Pogačar secures fifth Tour de France crown as Mathieu van der Poel wins in Paris

Tour de France 2026

Stage 21

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) equalled the record for the most Tour de France yellow jerseys by winning his fifth overall title, arriving safely to the line on stage 21 after putting on an epic show on the final day in Paris as Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) won an absolute thriller at the 2026 edition.

Only four all-time greats had achieved the feat of winning five Tours before the Slovenian joined them today: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain; Pogačar is the first to match them in the 21st century. But that wasn’t the only piece of history he was chasing.

No rider has won into the French capital in yellow since Bernard Hinault in 1982, but Pogačar made it clear he wanted to change that, and with the GC times neutralised before the thrilling circuit, there was little risk in him trying. He attacked at full gas on the second ascent up the Côte de la Butte Montmartre to form a group of superstars with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Van der Poel.

Even their collective strength wasn’t enough to hold off the Decathlon CMA CGM-led chasing peloton with 20km to go, though, leaving the stage win down to the final rep up the Rue Lepic in Montmartre, where Van der Poel launched his own explosive burst, this time with only Pogačar able to match him.

10km separated them from the line, extended from last year by 4km, but the pair were fully committed even with the chasers not far off, the pair working to protect their slim 10-second lead at full gas amid the packed Paris streets as Decathlon chased them once more.

In the end, the two Monument men, exhausted in their efforts, made it to the final kilometre with a rapidly closing five-second gap, but they were running out of road as the sprinters breathed down their necks.

Pogačar ran out of steam, even perhaps the greatest rider of all time at the end of his limits, but Van der Poel had another gear, storming off the front with the line in sight to narrowly hold off the chasers by a tiny margin, his teammate Jasper Philipsen celebrating early and ensuring he didn’t overtake him and deny a legendary victory.

Collapsing at the line, Van der Poel was embraced by Philipsen, having eclipsed some of his best career wins with an insane finish at the Tour. With the stage win lost, Pogačar still had enough in the tank to celebrate on his own over the line, holding his hand up to signal his fifth Tour GC win.

“[It means] a lot. It was already a year I was thinking about this when I was sick last year and had to watch this stage on television. I was already thinking about this moment, and then the way it went, it’s a dream,” said Van der Poel after catching his breath.

“It’s incredible. It was super hard, and then to be up there with the best rider in the world. All my respect for Tadej. I thought we were gonna get caught back, but then I was just thinking about this moment, and I just put my head down in the last 500 meters, I just went as hard as I could.

“I was just waiting until a wheel was coming past, and it didn’t happen, didn’t happen, and in the very end, I see a Pirelli tyre next to me, and it’s the one from Jasper. It just shows we never give up; maybe the start of our Tour was not good, but yeah, one and two on Champs-Élysées, I think that’s pretty good.”

Could he have asked for more having won two stages and helped Philipsen finally win a stage in the third week? “No, not at all. I’m super happy, but if there was one race I still wanted to win in my career – I have a few, of course – but this was one of them,” said Van der Poel.

“We have a saying in Dutch that it has to come from your toes, but I don’t know where this came from, but not from my toes. I don’t know where it came from.”

Despite the riders still honouring the planned start town of Thoiry at the team presentation, the emergency response required to tackle wildfires in the south meant that the final stage of the 2026 Tour de France was shortened to just 89km and actually rolled out from the centre of Paris without the typical procession into the city.

Following ceremonies in Thoiry, all riders used team buses for the transfer to Paris.

The opening lap around the iconic Champs-Élysées did start slowly, the riders rolling up to the Arc de Triomphe and back around the famous avenue and allowing for the typical celebrations and photo opportunities that have long characterised the final day.

Early on in the day, official confirmation came through that the GC times would be taken after 41km were completed, coming after the opening seven short laps around the Champs-Élysées and before the three longer laps up to Montmartre, where the steep, narrow roads would explode into life.

With the parades over, the attacks kicked off with 74km to go as Lotto-Intermarché, Alpecin-Premier Tech and XDS Astana positioned riders in the first attempted move. That move was swiftly stymied, but it wasn’t long before Baptiste Veistroffer from the former was back on the attack solo, as he has been throughout the three weeks.

Veistroffer led through the intermediate sprint and held a 10-second lead into the final 60km, where the next wave of attacks was being launched behind him by the likes of Lidl-Trek and Pinarello Q36.5. This ended the lone Frenchman’s time in front.

After a short lull, Thibault Guernalec (TotalEnergies) and Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello Q36.5) were the next escapees to attack off the front of the peloton, and they carried an almost 30-second advantage into the final 50km.

Azparren amped up the crowd as the pair entered the cacophony of noise on the fan-filled streets of Montmartre, with Alpecin-Premier Tech pacing in the peloton before green jersey Mads Pedersen accelerated over the cobbles.

Such was the damage, yellow jersey Pogačar made his intentions clear, following the initial move from Pedersen, knowing full well the threat he presents as one of his rivals from the Classics. You could have been forgiven for thinking you were watching the Tour of Flanders, with Mathieu van der Poel also in the Dane’s wheel at the top of the climb.

The superstar names were part of a group of nine, but there were several riders bridging across as they descended from the cobbled streets and back towards the Champs-Élysées, the difference to last year being that the run to the line had been extended from 6km long to 10km from the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

Racing came back together after the first lap with 37km to go, and order was somewhat restored as they returned to the famous avenue. Red Bull took over the pacing duties, with several strong riders dropped into a second peloton, notably Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) after a mechanical, Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious).

Approaching the second lap up to Montmartre, Pogačar had Tim Wellens ignite the pace to full gas; the yellow jersey sat ominously in his wheel as they passed the Moulin Rouge before attacking with 26.9km to go.

Bursting into life, it was only the best riders in the world able to go with him: Van der Poel, Pedersen, and the man who conquered these streets at the Olympics two years ago, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). Quickly, though, it was only the Dutchman in his wheel as even the green jersey and Olympic champion had to yield against the unrelenting pace.

Van der Poel came through to work, but it wasn’t long before Evenepoel bridged across on the descent, Pedersen also not too far behind, forming a group of true superstars. With 24km to go, three became four, but Decathlon CMA CGM were pacing in the peloton 16 seconds in arrears.

Even they couldn’t hold off the chasing pack, though, with Decathlon’s strength in numbers pulling them back in with just under 20km to race and only one climb remaining for the big names to try and get away from those wanting a sprint.

After a full sprint lead-out into the last lap of the climb, Pogačar had to move up a long way on his own to reach the front, which he reached with 600 metres still to go to the top.

It was British champion Fred Wright (Pinarello Q36.5) who led the race for most of the climb, but behind him the superstars were coming, as Van der Poel exploded on the attack with the yellow jersey in his wheel. Unlike Wout van Aert 12 months ago, though, he could not distance the race leader before the top.

Cresting the summit as a pair, they had a slim lead as the rest of the race was coming across in dribs and drabs. 10km to go before reaching the finish, Van der Poel continued to work with Pogačar, but the chasers were just as committed behind.

A group of six riders chased them at 10 seconds down: Visma-Lease a Bike duo Per Strand Hagenes and Matteo Jorgenson, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-QuickStep), and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility).

Decathlon pulled in what remained of the peloton, but they were running out of riders in the final run for home. Eventually, though, they reeled in the first chase group, and upon entering the final 2km, Van der Poel and Pogačar were in their sights.

Reaching the last straight and final few hundred metres, the yellow jersey knew his race was run, sitting up and preparing to celebrate his fifth overall title.

Van der Poel, though, accelerated in the saddle, with TNT’s Rob Hatch calling back to his famous Amstel Gold Race commentary from 2019: “I have never seen anything – for a long time – like this”, as the Dutchman produced an unbelievable effort to stay away and win the greatest final stage in recent Tour memory.

Stage 21 result:

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Premier Tech, in 1:58:49
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, at same time
3. Made Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek,
4. Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana,
5. Ben Healey (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost,
6. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain Victorious,
7. Rick Pluimers (Ned) Tudo Pro Cycling,
8. Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies,
9. Milan Fretin (Fra) Cofidis,
10. Clément Russo (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, all at same time

General Classification:

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 73:56:26
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +6:26
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +9:42
4. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +11:56
5. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain-Victorious, +13:02
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+14:59
7. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +17:48
8. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +20:00
9. Tom Pidcock (Gbr), Pinarello Q36.5, +29:28
10. Jordan Jegat (Fra) TotalEnergies, +33:21