Tadej Pogacar’s cycling supremacy is such that few riders can even challenge him

PARIS (AP) 鈥� record-equaling puts him among the greatest cyclists in the sport, and he could become the best of all in years to come.

After Sunday’s 21st and final stage in Paris, the 27-year-old Slovenian joined Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain, and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault as the only riders to win five Tour titles.

Pogacar finished 6 minutes, 26 seconds ahead of Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel, a , in the overall standings.

Jonas Vingegaard, who was once Pogacar’s big rival, on the 15th stage. Vingegaard, a former fish factory worker from Denmark, won the Tour in and ‘ . For his second title, he beat Pogacar by more than seven minutes in a result that put them level at 2-2 for Tour titles.

Pogacar has since won the Tour three straight times. Vingegaard, despite clinching the last September and the earlier this year, barely mustered a challenge at this Tour. He did briefly wear the yellow jersey, but that was thanks to a team effort after Visma-Lease a Bike team won the opening-day in Barcelona.

Pogacar won five stages and now has 26 overall. He still needs 10 stage wins to break . That may take two years given that Pogacar鈥檚 best in a single edition is six, during the 2024 Tour.

Can anyone challenge Pogacar?

Vingegaard is 29 and has time to win more Tours, but needs to find a way to challenge Pogacar again in the high climbs.

Otherwise, the list of contenders is slim.

Paul Seixas carries the renewed hopes of French supporters, 41 years after the last of Hinault’s wins. The 19-year-old Seixas placed fourth on his Tour debut and fellow Frenchman Lenny Martinez, who is an excellent climber, placed fifth overall.

Both are riders of the future.

Martinez, 23, blew the chance of a stage win on the when he didn’t work properly with to distance Pogacar lower down the climb.

Carapaz won two mountain stages but the 33-year-old Ecuadorian was not a threat for the title and Pogacar didn’t need to chase him. The is an attacking rider, but advancing years 鈥� and the fact he placed 20 minutes behind Pogacar overall 鈥� diminish the challenge he poses to Pogacar in future.

Only the 26-year-old Evenepoel appears to have an outside chance of toppling Pogacar. The can in time trials and is young enough to improve in the mountains. He rode well to win the 15th stage, albeit after Vingegaard had crashed.

He is part of an ambitious Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team which has big financial backing and could yet build a winning team around him. However, the team must decide who to back as No. 1 rider between Evenepoel and German climber Florian Lipowitz, who was third on last year’s Tour.

Pogacar鈥檚 UAE Team Emirates teammate Isaac Del Toro, a 22-year-old Mexican making his , placed third overall but remains under Pogacar’s wing as his elite support rider.

Spanish Vuelta?

It has been a for Pogacar.

He won stage races at the and the , as well as stunning victories in .

Pogacar won the Giro d鈥橧talia by .

But unlike Vingegaard, Hinault, Anquetil, and Merckx, he has not won the Spanish Vuelta for a hat trick of Grand Tours wins.

鈥淲ill I be at La Vuelta in a few weeks?鈥� Pogacar said teasingly on Sunday. 鈥淟et鈥檚 see.鈥�

Early-morning tests

This year’s race made headlines when Pogacar and Vingegaard had unannounced anti-doping tests in the early hours: 5 a.m. for Pogacar and 2 a.m. for Vingegaard.

Some fans were outraged, and Evenepoel described the timing as 鈥渧ery disrespectful鈥� to riders during an exhausting race.

Pogacar suggested fatigue may have played a factor in Vingegaard’s crash later that day. However, Pogacar later accepted that random-hour testing helps improve transparency.

Cycling鈥檚 governing body, the UCI, has entrusted Tour testing since 2021 to the Swiss-based , which said were followed.

Armstrong’s damage

The sport’s reputation was badly hit when Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour titles (1999-2005) after to having used performance-enhancing drugs. Two years later, a detailed cycling鈥檚 historic culture of drug use.

British rider Chris Froome, who won the Tour four times (2013 and 2015-17) when trust in cycling overall was very low following the Armstrong scandal, said he agreed with the early-morning tests.

鈥淚t is something that, as riders, I just think we have to embrace,鈥� he said in an interview with British newspaper The Telegraph. 鈥淥ur doors always have to be open, regardless of how inconvenient it is … to inspire confidence and to act as a deterrent.鈥�

___

AP sports:

麻豆官网