Stage 21

The road

At the start

Montmartre three times, and a fifth

Pogačar rides into Paris 6:26 clear of Evenepoel with Del Toro third, one afternoon from equalling the record of five Tours. Pascal Ackermann and Ilan van Wilder did not finish yesterday. The last stage has been redrawn overnight — wildfires elsewhere in France took the security the Thoiry start needed, so the race begins and ends on the Champs-Élysées — with the cobbled Butte Montmartre climbed three times.

How it was won

1. 173 km to go

   Onto the Champs-Élysées

   The processional part of the last day ends the moment the race turns onto the avenue: the speed jumps, the teams stack up, and everyone knows what is waiting on the hill to the north.

2. 249 km to go

   Pedersen lights up Montmartre

   First time up the butte and the green jersey attacks the cobbles. Pogačar goes straight after him, Van der Poel too — at the top it looks less like the Tour de France than the Tour of Flanders, with nine of the strongest riders in the world clear.

3. 337 km to go

   Order briefly restored

   Back on the avenue the race comes together again, Red Bull setting the pace — but the effort has already dropped Del Toro, hit by a mechanical, along with Pidcock, Ayuso and Martinez into a second group.

4. 433 km to go

   Yellow attacks past the Moulin Rouge

   Tim Wellens winds it to full gas on the approach and Pogačar sits ominously in the wheel before launching. Only Van der Poel can hold him; Pedersen and Olympic champion Evenepoel yield, though the Belgian claws back on the descent to make it a quartet of superstars.

5. 522 km to go

   Decathlon drag them back

   Sixteen seconds becomes nothing: with strength in numbers Decathlon reel the four back in with under 20km to race, leaving exactly one climb for the attackers and one chance for the sprinters.

6. 617 km to go

   The last time up the butte

   Fred Wright leads most of the final ascent while Pogačar has to fight up from deep in the group on his own. Then Van der Poel explodes clear with the yellow jersey glued to his wheel — but unlike Van Aert twelve months ago, he cannot shake him before the top.

7. 7At the line

   Van der Poel wins, Pogačar makes five

   The couple looks behind and sees the chase incoming. Van der Poel makes one last dash which is too much for Pogačar, who gets caught by the chase. But the greatest one-day racer of his generation finishes the job, beating Philipsen and Pedersen on the line. Behind him Tadej Pogačar rides into Paris in yellow for the fifth time, joining Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain.

The result