Tour de France Stage 21: 6 Stages + 3 Tours = Historic Double
Tadej Pogačar of UAE Emirates capped off his historic season with a run of stage wins, including the final time trial in Nice, to win the 2024 Tour de France. Pogačar’s stellar performance transformed his ascending legacy, overturning consecutive defeats by Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard and moving him ahead on total Tour wins with three, at age 25. The win also gave him the recently elusive Giro-Tour Double, thought to be impossible in modern cycling, the first such occurrence since Marco Pantani in 1998.
The time trial in Nice, ascending the Col d’Èze of Paris-Nice fame, stood in for the traditional finish on the Champs Élysées, unavailable with the Olympics starting next week. It provided that Paris connection of extreme cycling pedigree, as well as a glittering backdrop for the event, linking Monaco and its F1 course at the start to Nice, two fabulous sports settings. Remco Evenepoel of Soudal Quick Step, the ITT World Champion, blasted the day’s times as expected, but he couldn’t hold off either of his two podium rivals. The improving Vingegaard took advantage of the climbs to top Evenepoel by 10 seconds, only to be topped by Pogačar by over a minute. It was Pogačar’s third consecutive stage win, fifth in the last week, and sixth overall in this year’s Tour.
Evenepoel defended his best young rider with third overall behind Vingegaard, a solid start to his Tour de France career, though his defeat in his specialty event does not bode well for his chances as long as Pogačar and Vingegaard are in top form. Richard Carapaz of EF Education clinched the KOM jersey and Biniam Girmay the points competition win.
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Monaco - Nice 33.7 km Timetrial
A final TT where pretty much nothing of substance will happen, take that all of you Lemond vs. Fignon nostalgics. But we’ll get a nice and scenic last-day sendoff for the riders.
Estimated finish time: 19:25 CEST (final rider)
Sad “only guy who could be bothered with the TT” of the Day: Remco Evenepoel
He’s too good a TT guy and in too good shape after three weeks not to win this thing without even trying super super hard.