Slovenian wins Tour de France after trailing most of race
In a stunning performance for the ages, Tour de France rookie Tadej Pogacar won cycling's showpiece race Sunday on t he eve of his 22nd birthday, becoming the second-youngest winner of the 117-year-old event that this year braved — and overcame — France's worsening coronavirus epidemic.
With a yellow face mask to match the race winner' s yellow jersey, Po ga car stood a top t he podium backlit by t he pink hues of dusk, transformed from promising prodigy into cycling superstar, the youngest winner since World War II and the first from Slovenia. While the mask hid his smiles, the creases around his eyes gave them away.
“This is just the top of the top,” he said. “It' s been an amazing threeweek adventure."
His victory was remarkable, too, for the way in which he sealed it: at the last possible moment, on the penultimate stage before Sunday's finish on Paris' Champs-Elysees. During the cycling marathon over all five of France' s mountain range sand 3,482 punishing kilometers ( 2, 1 64 miles), Pogacar held the race lead and the iconic yellow jersey for just one stage — the last and most important one into Paris, with a yellow bike to match.
Pogacar KO'd the race and Slovenian countryman Pri moz Roglic by snatching away the jersey that he'd worn for 11 days, in a high-drama time trial Saturday.
Their 1-2 is the first for one country since British riders Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome also took the top spots at the 2012 Tour. Australian Richie Porte rounded out this year' s podium, at age 35, after his brilliant time trial that hoisted him from fourth to third overall.
Irish rider Sam Bennett won the prestigious final sprint on the ChampsElysees, giving him his second stage win at this Tour.