07/26/26 01:17:00
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07/26 13:16 CDT Tadej Pogacar wins a record-equaling fifth Tour de France title
Tadej Pogacar wins a record-equaling fifth Tour de France title
By JEROME PUGMIRE
AP Sports Writer
PARIS (AP) --- Tadej Pogacar won a record-equaling fifth Tour de France title
on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Slovenian dominated this year's race to join Belgian Eddy
Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard
Hinault as the only riders to win five Tours.
After finishing safely in Sunday's 21st and final stage in Paris, Pogacar
finished 6 minutes, 26 seconds over Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel in the
overall standings.
Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro, a 22-year-old Mexican
making his Tour debut, was third at 9:42 back from Pogacar, who smiled and held
up his hand to signify his wins. His teammates then joined him as they stood
proudly on the Champs-lyses.
Pogacar won five stages at this year's race to take his impressive tally to 26
overall.
He tried to win on Sunday, too, but victory ultimately went to Dutchman Mathieu
van der Poel, who just held off the chasing pack on the home straight for his
second stage win at this year's race and fourth overall.
Sunday's 88.7-kilometer (55-mile) stage looped around Paris and was mostly
processional, although less so than in previous years, which were usually
entirely flat stages for sprinters and not for the rest of the peloton.
For the second straight year the stage featured the hugely popular uphill climb
through the Montmartre district, a sharp 1-kilometer dash which riders tackled
three times before finishing on the Champs-lyses.
It proved even too much for Pogacar, who could not match Van der Poel's raw
power in the closing stages. -__
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