NICE, France - Tadej Pogacar had no need to attack on the final stage of the Tour de France. Defending a lead of more than five minutes in Sunday's time trial, he was set to comfortably win the race for the third time and first time in three years, anyway.
But defense has not been in his vocabulary during this race and he simply could not resist another attack.
With his main rival Jonas Vingegaard unable to challenge him, Pogacar celebrated his Tour victory in style with a dominant win in the time trial ending in Nice for the 17th stage win of his already illustrious Tour career.
The 25-year-old Slovenian rider also became the first cyclist to secure the Giro d鈥橧talia and Tour de France in the same year since the late Marco Pantani in 1998.
鈥淭o win both together is another level above,鈥 said Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates. 鈥淚 think this is the first Grand Tour where I was totally confident every day. Even at the Giro I remember I had one bad day. This year, the Tour was just amazing. I was enjoying it from day one.鈥
The two-time defending champion Vingegaard of Denmark was second overall. He also finished the stage in second place.
Pogacar won the 34-kilometer (21-mile) time trial on the French Riviera's roads from Monaco to Nice in 45 minutes, 24 seconds. Vingegaard was 1 minute, 3 seconds behind him and Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel 1:14 back in third spot.
In the overall standings, Vingegaard finished 6:17 behind Pogacar and Evenepoel was third overall, 9:18 behind Pogacar 鈥 whose other Tour wins came in 2020 and 2021.
"I鈥檓 super happy. I cannot describe how happy I am after two hard years in the Tour de France," Pogacar said. 鈥淭his year everything (was) perfection.鈥
The race did not finish in Paris as it usually does because of the . Nice mayor Christian Estrosi called the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the southern French Alps 鈥減erfect cycling territory.鈥
From early Sunday morning, fans camped along the popular Promenade des Anglais in Nice to guard a spot that would offer the best glimpse of cyclists.
Some fans chanted 鈥淩emco, Remco鈥 as the zoomed past them.
They may have been surprised to see Pogacar going flat out.
After his , Pogacar said he would not try to win Saturday鈥檚 stage. Yet he still won it to become the second man to clinch five mountain stages in one Tour after Italian rider Gino Bartali in 1948.
Pogacar led Vingegaard overnight by 5 minutes, 14 seconds. But the lure of another stage win proved too strong and he flew down the winding roads past picturesque 脠ze and Villefranche-sur-Mer on the approach to Nice, where the route flattened out again.
Pogacar held out three fingers as the finish line and a sixth stage win approached on this year鈥檚 Tour 鈥 the same number of stages he won when .
It was Pogacar鈥檚 biggest winning margin of his three Tour wins 鈥 beating the 5:20 gap on Vingegaard three years ago, but below the 7:29 victory margin Vingegaard enjoyed over Pogacar last year.
The battle with Vingegaard was not as close as it might have been in different circumstances.
The 27-year-old Vingegaard was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in April following a in the Tour of the Basque Country. He resumed competitive racing only on this Tour.
鈥淯nder normal circumstances, I would be disappointed with my Tour de France. But, after everything I鈥檝e gone through, I can鈥檛 be disappointed," Vingegaard said. 鈥淚 would have loved to go a bit further, but it is what it is. I would like to come back to the Tour de France and win it again ... I believe the yellow jersey is the most beautiful jersey in road cycling.鈥
won the best climber's polka dot jersey while won the top sprinter's green jersey and the 24-year-old Evenepoel capped a fine debut Tour with the white jersey for best young rider.
鈥淚 feel like I鈥檓 floating through the sky. It鈥檚 super nice," said. "I just want to say for the young kids, keep working hard and everything is possible.鈥
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Associated Press writer Barbara Surk in Nice contributed to this report.
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