Wout Van Aert won the 21st and last stage of the Tour de France. The Belgian, who dropped his five escaped companions including Tadej Pogacar during the last passage on rue Lepic, won solo. For his part, Pogacar won his fourth big loop.
Pogacar won with a comfortable 4’24 advance in the general classification on the Danish Jonas Vingegaard. But he was not satisfied to end up in a free wheel, on the contrary energizing the last episode run under a deluge, during the triple ascent of the Butte Montmartre, black of the world.
Passing in the lead during the first two climbs, the Slovenian still attacked, within a group of six runners, during the last climb on rue Lepic, drowned in an indescribable fervor to follow this last step transformed into a classic Flandrian paved.
But Van Aert managed to hang on to his wheel before letting go of the yellow jersey in the last meters of the ascent and going to win for the second time in his career on the Champs-Elysées, three years after his last stage victory on the Tour.
Pogacar joins Froome
Fourth in the stage, Pogacar, soaked to the bone, crossed the line The finger raised to conclude in style a Tour de France which he will have mastered from start to finish. After having knocked out the competition from the Pyrenees and then walked his boredom in the Alps, the world champion had decided to race on Sunday.
And this even though his final victory was assured since the general times had been frozen before Montmartre because of the rain – it only had to pass the line, anyway. This did not prevent him from taking risks to participate in a total show in soggy streets in Paris, from which Vingegaard was held away.
In six participations, Pogacar is now four victories in the Tour de France and two second places, equaling Chris Froome to get closer to a unit of the record held by Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Jacques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain.
The absence of Almeida has not changed anything
However, everything was not pink and the Slovenian had to compose with the abandonment of his lieutenant Joao Almeida, several sick runners in his team, a cold for himself, the inevitable questions about his supremacy and the Visma team.
But the harassment strategy of the Dutch formation has made Pschitt and, in the end, Vingegaard has completed his worse turn since 2021, without a stage victory. Behind, the young people push to start with Florian Lipowitz, 24, first German on the podium since Andreas Klöden in 2006.
AGENCES/PZA