Tadej Pogacar has won his fifth Tour de France, tying the all-time record and placing himself in a group of only four other riders in the history of the race, according to Deadline.
The others who have won five times are Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain, and Frenchmen Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil. American Lance Armstrong stood on the winners podium seven times but was stripped of all his titles in 2012 following a doping investigation.
Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, controlled the race almost from the beginning. He took the yellow jersey in the sixth stage and held it through the final 15 stages. His winning margin on the final day in Paris was a comfortable 6 minutes and 26 seconds.
At 27 years old, the Slovenian is the youngest rider ever to reach five Tour de France victories. The record he tied belongs to cyclists who are widely considered among the greatest in the sport's history, and Pogacar's age means he could have further opportunities to break it outright.
Some observers have pointed to misfortune among his competitors as a factor this year. Danish racer Jonas Vingegaard, who beat Pogacar in both 2022 and 2023, broke his collarbone in a crash during stage 15. But Pogacar was already four and a half minutes ahead when that happened.
Despite his dominance, Pogacar did not speak with certainty about how many more Tours he would pursue. After the penultimate stage, he told European broadcaster TNT Sports: "I definitely will not be doing this for too much long time, I think."
In the United States, NBC Sports carried three weeks of live coverage across NBC, Peacock, and NBCSN. The final stage concluded Sunday on NBC.
