photo credits @ Le Tour
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) pulled out all the stops to secure a third Tour de France title after winning today’s final mountain time trial in Nice.
Pogacar proved to be peerless once again on the French Riviera, as the Slovenian rider won today’s race against the clock by over a minute on his biggest rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Meanwhile, no sooner had Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) lived up to his billing as world time trial champion to set the best time at the finish than Vingegaard – the outgoing double champion from Denmark – powered home 11 seconds faster for what could have easily been the winning time.
But Pogacar blasted up the climbs of La Turbie and the Col d’Eze before putting in a daredevil descent that combined supreme bike handling.
Race Highlights
141 riders took part in the final stage of the 2024 Tour, a 33.7km Individual Time Trial from Monaco to Nice with everything on the line. Mark Cavendish was the second rider to start – after his Astana Qazaqstan teammate Davide Ballerini – and the veteran British rider achieved his objective of finishing his final Tour de France. With a record 35 stage victories in the Tour to his name, Cavendish ended his historic relationship with this race as a rider in the most beautiful way possible, concluding it for the 8th time in his 15 participations. Intermarche-Wanty’s Biniam Girmay also knew that he would not win this ITT stage, but he too made it to the finish in Nice in style, to the cheers and support of the crowd, becoming the first African rider to win a ranking in the Tour de France, in his green jersey.
Martinez sets a marker
Groupama-FDJ’s young Frenchman Lenny Martinez completed the course at an impressive average speed of 41.8 km/h and in a time of 48’24” to position himself as the provisional leader, where he would remain for well over an hour, until Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) took over in the top spot, beating Martinez by 10”. In tears yesterday after his final Tour de France stage in the mountains, French hero and Yellow Jersey wearer on Stage 2 Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) was given huge support by the fans on his last ever day on the Tour. Due to retiring just before the 2025 Tour, Bardet finished today’s stage in 37th place and was 30th in the final GC.
Carapaz in polka dots
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) finished a highly successful Tour as the winner of the Mountain classification with 127 points, compared to 102 for Pogacar and 70 for Vingegaard. It is Ecuador’s first victory in any final ranking of the Tour de France.
The GC favorites fight for the final win
Riders such as Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Derek Gee (Israel – Premier Tech) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) all enjoyed a moment with the provisional lead before the GC top 3 finished their runs. Pogacar was already the fastest man in the first sector, 7” and 26” ahead of Vingegaard and Evenepoel, increasing those respective advantages to 24” over Vingegaard and 51” on Evenepoel at the second intermediate marker on Col d’Èze. Pogacar was absolutely flying by the time he reached the Place Île de Beauté in Nice (km 28.6), the third and final intermediate marker, with 1’04” over Vingegaard and 1’28” over white jersey winner Evenepoel, going on the wrap up the victory and a third overall GC success in superb style.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
