High five: Pogacar ties record with latest TdF tit...
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- Tadej Pogacar won his record-equaling fifth Tour de France title Sunday, joining only Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain, Jacques Anquetil, and Bernard Hinault as five-time winners.
- Pogacar finished 6 minutes, 26 seconds ahead of Belgium's Remco Evenepoel in the overall standings, with 22-year-old Mexican teammate Isaac del Toro third at 9:42 back.
- Jonas Vingegaard, the two-time champion and Pogacar's chief rival heading in, crashed out on stage 15; Pogacar said it was a "shame" he and others didn't finish.
- Mathieu van der Poel won Sunday's shortened final stage on the Champs-Élysées, just edging teammate Jasper Philipsen and green-jersey winner Mads Pedersen after attacking solo on the third Montmartre climb.
- The final stage was cut from 82.6 to 55 miles and shifted to start in Paris after some security forces were redeployed to combat wildfires in southwest France.
- Richard Carapaz claimed the polka-dot jersey as best climber after what he called "a great fight," while the 55-mile stage featured three ascents of the Montmartre climb near the Sacré-Coeur basilica.
- Pogacar won five stages this year, taking his Tour career tally to 26, and left the door open to contesting the Spanish Vuelta starting Aug. 22 after winning the 2024 Giro d'Italia.
Why it matters: At 27, Pogacar has reached five Tour titles in an age when Merckx, Indurain, Anquetil, and Hinault were still chasing their first or second, and his 26 career stage wins already outpace each of those legends at the same point — making the record he's now chasing one he may be uniquely positioned to break.
