Pogacar makes Hat-Trick of Triumphs by wining Tour de France

Tadej Pogacar won the 2024 Tour de France on Sunday, adding a third overall title to his 2020 and 2021 crowns.

The 25-year-old won the final day's time-trial with defending champion Jonas Vingegaard coming second at 1 minute 03 seconds on the day to seal second overall ahead of a disappointed Remco Evenepoel, third on the day and third overall.

Astonishingly Pogacar won six stages on this edition of the Tour de France, just as he did when winning the 2024 Giro d'Italia.

The world's greatest bike race, broadcast across the globe, featured a novelty finale on the French Riviera because of the Olympic Games in Paris.

Instead of the last day romp around the Champs Elysees the race avoided the Olympic Games sites altogether.

With five stage wins already in his saddlebag, Pogacar stormed out of his adopted hometown of Monaco and up the coast to Nice, with its pebble beach and celebrated Promenade des Anglais walkway, where he leapt into the arms of his team-mates.

Pogacar took the overall lead on a downhill on day four as the race arrived in France from Italy via the Alps.

By the time the race returned to the Alps, Pogacar was 3 minutes clear and Vingegaard was starting to flail, due to his major crash in March.

After the Queen stage on day 19, Pogacar knew he'd won and Vingegaard and his team boss switched their attentions to finishing second.

Vingegaard crashed heavily in March and was praised for even making it to the start line, but ahead of Sunday's race he expressed a desire to win another stage.

Although he started well, as has often been the case in this Tour, he was a distant second best.

He did however beat pre-race favourite Evenepoel, who cried at the finish line.

There are many prizes on offer on the Tour with Pogacar's yellow jersey for overall race leader being the chief amongst them.

Evenepoel may not have won the final day time-trial but he won the first time-trial in week two.

He also came third in the overall standings and won the white jersey for best young rider.

Other stars emerged along the way, as Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay won three stages, the sprint points green jersey and national hero status in his homeland.

Riding a green bike and decked out from head to toe in green, Girmay was seen off by a clutch of his countrymen in Monaco.

He narrowly beat the 2023 sprint king Jasper Philipsen, who won three stages but never had the lead in the points race.

Olympic champion Richard Carapaz is being hailed as the most combative rider on the 2024 Tour.

The Ecuadorian EF rider won a stage, took the yellow jersey for a day and came close to other victories. He raced on Saturday in the polka dot best climber's jersey.

Mark Cavendish also grabbed the headlines, claiming a record 35th stage win and was given a special podium presentation for his career achievement.

Greeted by his family in Nice there were no tears from the Manx Missile, who laughed off the idea.

When asked if this was his last race he replied: "Likely so, yeah".

Five reasons why Pogacar won the Tour de France: 

Tadej Pogacar's third Tour de France triumph on the 2024 edition will live long in the memory as the Slovenian rider simply towered above his rivals.

As the dust settles on a relentlessly eventful edition AFP Sport looks at how the race was won and lost.

 Growing pains-

Asked if he might emulate his rival Jonas Vingegaard in growing a moustache, Pogacar smiled and confessed he didn't much need to shave yet. But the feisty Pogacar who couldn't help attack whenever things looked dull has learned his lesson. It could be argued he lost the 2022 and 2023 Tours by failing to keep his powder dry. "This is heavy, stressful," Pogacar complained as he skulked moodily through the second week under strict instructions to keep his self-destructive impulses tethered. In week three the swagger was back, energy conserved, rivals wilting, he was still munching on his favoured sweets throughout press conferences, still possibly not shaving much, but the boy who threw away two tours had grown into the giant who won two in a single season, completing a landmark Giro-Tour double.

The 'little guy' 

To his eternal credit two-time defending champion Vingegaard stubbornly refused to give up until he was five minutes adrift with two stages to go and little gas left in the tank.

From the off the question loomed large, with only six weeks training, could the softly spoken "little guy" as his Visma teammates call him, cope with a 21-day race. The answer was yes, but the strength needed to attack deep into the third week was missing, robbed by his crash in March. "It's only a few months ago that my loved ones feared for my life," Vingegaard said. "By coming here I have nothing to lose and everything to win. Nobody is going to blame me if I don't win." And so it proved as the Visma chief Grischa Niermann said: "Jonas is second best this year, and we're very proud of him."

 Clement climate 

An often overlooked factor in winning and losing races is the elements -- sun, wind, rain, cold, everyone has their preference. Four-time Tour winner Chris Froome was famous for faring well in extreme heat and Vingegaard often repeats how he loves to ride with the sun beating down on him.

Pogacar said ahead of week three he had addressed his own aversion to heat. "If you look at when Jonas has dropped me, this may be coincidence, but it has been in great heat and at high altitude, I've been training for both." Until the Tour hit Nice on the final weekend with Pogacar already riding off into the sunset and the silverware in his saddlebag, the mercury had barely bothered him.

 Covid costs 

When Pogacar loped into the Palazzio Vecchio in Florence anyone could see he was under a cloud. His beloved grandfather had passed away and he announced he was getting over a bout of Covid. "It was mild, I already had it once so just a bit of fever, like a cold really," he said.

On first glance this looked bad for the pretender. But it proved otherwise because it effectively rendered him immune while Ineos, for example, staggered under the weight of the infection spreading through their team. Outside hope Evenepoel was wary, the 2022 Vuelta champion had to quit the 2023 Giro while leading, due to a bout of Covid, and spent this Tour behind a large bright red mask, as if to remind everyone.

Sheer talent 

The 2024 Tour was sold by the organisers as a four-way struggle between Vingegaard, Pogacar, the long awaited debutant Evenepoel and the veteran four-time Grand Tour winner Primoz Roglic. But after watching Pogacar romp to his Giro win in May, organisers had to be hoing he couldn't win this year's Tour with such ease. Luckily for the fans he curbed his enthusiasm. Pogacar has an amazing cycling physique, the best-funded team, the strongest teammates barring Vingegaard's Wout van Aert, and the final vital ingredient, the will to win. "This is racing, expect me to continue," Pogacar often says about his hunger for stage wins.