The China Mail - 'Incredibly proud' Pogacar wins record-equalling fifth Tour de France

Two-time world champion Pogacar joined Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the most successful riders in Tour history.

"I'm really incredibly proud to be a fifth time winner of the biggest race in the world," Pogacar told France Televisions.

"It was a big goal to get five and, I'm not going to lie, it's one goal achieved."

Pogacar had all but secured his historic title during the previous two mountain stages that finished on the iconic Alpe d'Huez climb.

The 27-year-old Slovenian won five stages and had been in yellow since his victory in the Pyrenean sixth stage.

He now has 26 stage victories in total, putting him fourth in the all-time list behind only Mark Cavendish (35), Merckx (34) and Hinault (28).

He also surpassed both Indurain and Chris Froome for total days spent in yellow with 70, and trails now only Hinault (75) and Merckx (96).

He is the youngest rider to have won five Tours, more than a year younger than Merckx was in achieving the same feat, and is the first person to finish on the podium seven years running.

He is also the only rider to have been on the podium in nine consecutive Grand Tours.

And the Slovenian played his part in a stunning final stage, which was shortened to 88.7km due to wildfires raging in the southwest.

Van der Poel and Pogacar escaped together on the final climb up Montmartre with 10km to ride and then fought to the finish with a chasing group of sprinters closing in.

As Pogacar's strength sapped inside the last 700 metres, and with the chasers just seconds behind, Van der Poel struck out alone.

The cobbled classics specialist held on to win by half a bike length in a photo finish from his Alpecin Premier Tech teammate Jasper Philipsen, with Mads Pedersen in third.

"(For) a year I was thinking about this, and I was sick last year and had to watch this stage on television," said Van der Poel.

"I was already thinking about this moment, and the way it went, it's a dream.

"It was super hard to be up there with the best rider in the world, all my respect for Tadej."

- Historic Tour -

It was Van der Poel's second stage victory in the 113th edition of the Tour and his fourth in total.

Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel finished second overall, almost six and a half minutes back, with Mexican Isaac Del Toro in third.

It was a successful Tour for Dane Pedersen, who won the sprinters' green jersey competition.

Richard Carapaz of Ecuador triumphed in the polkadot King of the Mountains jersey category, and Del Toro finished in the best young rider's white jersey.

Carapaz, who won two mountain stages, was also voted as the Tour's most combative rider.

French great Julian Alaphilippe, a two-time world champion, announced that he had competed in his final Tour.

The 34-year-old famously held the coveted yellow jersey for 14 days in 2019 before losing it two days before reaching Paris.

It was a historic Tour in many ways.

It was only the third time in 113 editions after 1926 and 1999 that no Frenchman has won a stage.

But even more remarkable is that it is the first time in 302 Grand Tours -- including the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana -- that no rider from either France, Italy or Spain has won a stage.

By contrast riders from Slovenia, Mexico, Ecuador and Denmark won stages -- showing just how much cycling has expanded beyond its traditional western European founding base.

The entire peloton set a new record for the fastest ever road stage.

The 11th from Vichy to Nevers was ridden at an average speed of 50.9kph, beating the old record of 50.35kph from 1990.

By finishing third, Del Toro became the first Mexican to finish on a Tour podium, while fourth-placed Paul Seixas at 19 was the youngest rider in the Grande Boucle since Adrien Cento in 1937.

B.Chan--ThChM