Tadej Pogačar Secures Third Consecutive Tour de France Victory

Tadej Pogačar secured his third consecutive and fifth overall victory in the Tour de France this evening (Saturday). After breaking a 31-year-old record yesterday and setting the fastest climb in the Alps on his way to winning the fifth stage of the 2026 Tour, the 27-year-old Slovenian cyclist eased off on the 20th stage and will be officially crowned tomorrow in Paris.

The 21st and final stage, which will conclude as per tradition on the Champs-Élysées, was shortened from 133 to 89 km due to the redeployment of security forces to deal with forest fires near Bordeaux.

Throughout the current decade, Pogačar has been the undisputed ruler of the prestigious Tour in France. He won in 2020 and 2021, finished as the runner-up to Jonas Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023, and is now completing a streak of three additional victories. The Danish rival, who was his runner-up in the previous two years and also in 2021, was forced to withdraw this time due to a broken collarbone following a crash on the 15th stage.

Richard Carapaz of Ecuador, wearing the polka-dot jersey of the King of the Mountains, achieved his second victory in the current Tour (after doing so on the 18th stage) and the third of his career.

He finished 26 seconds ahead of Belgian Remco Evenepoel, while American Sepp Kuss arrived third. 65 seconds after the winner, Pogačar in the yellow jersey and his UAE Team Emirates teammate, Isaac del Toro, in the white jersey (best young rider), arrived hugging each other in fourth and fifth places. The Mexican also stands in third place in the general classification and will be on the podium tomorrow alongside Pogačar.

Yellow Jersey Standings (after 20 stages):

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates) — 72:53:44

2. Remco Evenepoel (Belgium, Red Bull-Bora) — +6:26

3. Isaac del Toro (Mexico, UAE Team Emirates) — +9:42

4. Paul Seixas (France, Decathlon) — +11:56

5. Lenny Martinez (France, Bahrain Victorious) — +13:02