It is not known if Tadej Pogacar loves Joe Dassin, but, on the Champs-Elysées, the Slovenian knows the song. For the sixth time in as many participations, the world champion has indeed raised on the final podium of the Tour de France, Sunday July 27, in Paris. Second in 2022 and 2023, Tadej Pogacar won the big loop for the fourth time, after his successes from 2020, 2021 and 2024. The whole without ever being worried after three weeks of a Tour de France which he mastered with a master's hand.
At 26, the cannibal of modern times is in the midst of “Golden Age“, estimates Lilian Calmejane, consultant for France.tv. “For two seasons, he is ultra-dominating, but it is not said that it lasts two years. He surely lives the most beautiful years of his career, I will be surprised that he does better”. Difficult indeed to imagine a Tour de France as successful as that which the world champion has just experienced, capable of killing all suspense before the end of the second week, before being satisfied with an unusual role for him: that of prudent and patient defender.
Holding the title and growing favorite, Tadej Pogacar was on everyone's lips from the big departure of Lille. Even if the high mountain was only scheduled for the end of the second week of the Tour, everyone feared seeing the Slovenian go to the attack in the first week of racing, punctuated by steps for Putanchers. “It is sure that if he checked a step, it will be harder for us“, Imagined Julian Alaphilippe before the big departure.
If he could not face Mathieu van der Poel in Boulogne-sur-Mer (2nd stage), Tadej Pogacar lifted his arms for the first time in Rouen (4th stage), before seizing the yellow jersey the next day on the Caen's time trial, while prevailing Jonas Vingegaard in passing. But wearing the general's leader's tunic after only five stages, it was a little too early to the taste of the Slovenian cannibal. On the roads of Norman Switzerland, he thus let Mathieu Van der Poel escape to get rid of the yellow jersey … before taking it back the next day in Mûr-de-Bretagne (7th stage), on the evening of his second stage victory of the Tour.
After seven days of racing, the man with the rainbow jersey had already shown all the colors to the peloton and the followers. And this, while the mountain did not appear until July 14, in Auvergne, towards Mont Dore. Jonas Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease in Bike teammates tried to make the Slovenian flank. In vain. “They were a little annoying with their attacks, so I decided to place one myself, better”even stung the Slovenian on arrival, after getting rid – once again – of his yellow jersey for the benefit of Ben Healy. Enough to dispense with the media protocol inherent in the leader's tunic, before the longest transfer of this 112nd edition.
At the start of the Pyrenees, and despite a fall in the streets of Toulouse in the aftermath of the first day of rest, Tadej Pogacar was already in an armchair, with a minute ahead of Remco Evenepoel and a minute and twenty seconds on Jonas Vingegaard. An armchair he transformed into a throne, into two strokes in the Pyrenees. On the 12th stage, the Slovenian flew from the foot of the final ascent of Hautacam, to afford a third stage victory on this 112nd edition, where he had lost the 2022 Tour. Jonas Vingegaard was then relegated to more than three minutes.
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The next day, Tadej Pogacar rocked the nailing by winning the time trial between Loudenvielle and Peyragude, to count four minutes ahead of her Danish runner-up. Unless one fall, or a terrible cravings, the large 2025 loop was undoubtedly already folded, even if the Visma-Lease in Bike has never stopped attacking, as promised, but in vain. The question was no longer whether Tadej Pogacar was going to win the Tour, but if he was going to beat the record of eight victories on a single edition, feared by Charles Pélissier (1930), Eddy Merckx (1970, 1974), and Freddy Maertens (1976).
Winning six times last summer, the Slovenian could legitimately aim for arrivals in Superbagnères, Mont Ventoux, Courchevel and La Plagne, and why not the Parisian finale with the triple ascent of Montmartre. Like any cannibal, his appetite seemed without limit. “My team pays me to win, not to leave victories to others. You can't go back when an opportunity to win a step is present. You never know when your last day is”he warned at the evening of the 13th stage.
“I have a whole team behind me who work every day for me in order to arrive at the Tour in form, and if I decided on my own leader to abandon opportunities, they would not be very happy.”
Tadej Pogacar, after the 13th stage
Even if it means putting part of the peloton on the back? “At the end of my career, I would probably not speak at 99 % of the peloton. I will focus on my friends and family”evacuated Tadej Pogacar. It is however at this precise moment that the strategy of the Slovenian changed: of merciless cannibal, always brought to the attack, he went to a defensive, prudent, almost unnatural posture for him. In Superbagnères, Ventoux, then in the Col de la Loze, Tadej Pogacar followed without blinking the many attacks by Jonas Vingegaard, without playing the stages victories. The world champion was only content with a symbolic attack in the last meters to finish in front of his Danish rival.
Mount Ventoux and the Col de la Loze reminded each of the bad memories to Slovenian, which had erased those of Hautacam a few days earlier. But not this time. Why this sudden change of gear? Some mentioned a cold, others a political meaning so as not to rush the peloton, or because any ultra-domination always awakens the ghosts of doping.
“It is of such ease that we cannot prevent people from wondering, because of the cycling past. I am often asked if it is possible to go around France by being only in the water. Yes, it is possible. We train for years for that. I have friends who have made a podium on the tower by being in the water, I put my hand to cut“, tempers Yoann Offdo.
“The truth is that Pogacar has an incredible class on the bicycle. We have the impression of attending the emergence of an unprecedented talent from Bernard Hinault and Eddy Merckx.”
Yoann OffredoIn Franceinfo: Sport
The fact remains that Tadej Pogacar was able to be content to manage the last week of the Tour de France. A luxury he offered himself on the first part of the race, but which did not like him so much. “Pogacar needs adversity, as Van der Poel gives him on the classics. He seems almost tired by this Tour de France. He is the first to be bored”imagined Yoann Offdo, before arriving in the Alps. An impression confirmed by the main interested party, on the evening of his second place at the Col de la Loze (18th stage).
“Sometimes I wonder what I am still doing there, it's so long. I count the kilometers to Paris. I can't wait for it to be finished, that I can go home and do something else in my life.”
Tadej PogacarAfter the 18th stage
“But when you are in these big passes with all these people who encourage you, it gives additional motivation and you realize that in the end, it is not that bad”concluded the Slovenian, on the eve of a last mountain stage towards La Plagne. An atmosphere he found in the Lepic Street, during the three ascents of the Montmartre Butte of the 21st and last stage on Sunday, playing the leading roles, accelerating each time to try to become the second yellow jersey of the story to raise his arms on the Champs-Elysées, after Bernard Hinault in 1979 and 1982. But he fell on a unleashed van aert.
Tadej Pogacar did not raise his arms a fifth time on this tower, neither at La Plagne, nor on the fields. An anecdotal detail for Slovenian, sacred for the 4th time, and now at a length of the legends (Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain) crowned five times on the big loop.
