Pogacar claims maiden Tour title in anti-climatic finale

Tadej Pogacar became the first Slovenian to win the Tour de France after he retained the yellow jersey in the 21st stage, a day after he pulled off a major coup to take the overall lead.

While Sam Bennett won the final stage, the day belonged to Team UAE Emirates rider Pogacar, who celebrated his 22nd birthday yesterday and is the youngest man to win the race since Henri Cornet in 1904.

Pogacar, who claimed the yellow jersey from a stunned Primoz Roglic with a monumental performance in

Saturday’s time trial, also won the white jersey for the best Under-25 rider and the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification.

Roglic ended up second, 0:59 behind, with Australian Richie Porte taking third place, 3:30 off the pace.

“This is an incredible feeling, standing here in Paris on the top of the podium. It was an amazing three weeks, an incredible journey,” said Pogacar after the first one-two for one country since Bradley Wiggins finished ahead of fellow Briton Chris Froome in 2012.

“I want to thank all those who made it happen. It was three memorable weeks on the French roads, with incredible crowds. I won’t find the words to express my feelings.”

Pogacar also won three stages in one of the most brilliant individual performances in recent Tour history, leaving Roglic’s dominant Jum-boVisma team wondering what went wrong.

“We didn’t see it coming,” said Roglic’s teammate and former Tour runner-up Tom Dumoulin.

Bennett became the first Irishman since Sean Kelly in 1989 to win the green jersey for the points classification, ahead of Peter Sagan who was looking to claim it for an eighth time.

Bennett was the strongest at the end of the 122km ride from Mantesla Jolie on Sunday, beating world champion Mads Pedersen, with Sagan coming home third.

Ineos-Grenadiers had a Tour to forget as defending champion Egan Bernal dropped out of contention in the Jura stage to the Grand Colombier, pulling out a few days later with back pains. — Reuters