Tadej Pogačar secures fifth Tour de France victory as final stage shortened due to wildfires
Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar won his fifth Tour de France, finishing six and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Remco Evenepoel, while the race’s concluding stage was shortened after police were redeployed to fight wildfires in southwest France.
Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar claimed his fifth Tour de France title on Sunday, finishing the three-week race in 73 hours 56 minutes 26 seconds, about six and a half minutes ahead of Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel. The final stage, which started on the Champs-Élysées at roughly 5:50 p.m. local time, was shortened after organizers reassigned security and police resources to assist with wildfires in the southwest of the country. The original route would have begun in Thoiry, about 56 km west of Paris, before entering the capital. Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel won the stage in 1 hour 58 minutes 49 seconds. Pogačar’s fifth victory places him alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin as the joint most successful riders in Tour history; Lance Armstrong’s seven titles were later vacated after doping violations.