He’s only gone and done it. Tadej Pogačar thoroughly enjoyed the final day time trial on his training roads, where he took his sixth stage win at this Tour alone by over a minute, even while conceding several seconds by celebrating in the last few hundred metres.
The top three on stage 21 echoed the final GC standings, with Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and ITT world champion Remco Evenepoel going 1-2-3. After the last 33.7 kilometres of the 2024 edition, the Slovenian sealed his third Tour de France title by a margin of 6:17 over two-time champion Vingegaard, and 9:18 over best young rider Evenepoel. Pogačar’s teammate João Almeida at UAE Team Emirates led the rest in fourth 19 minutes and three seconds down on the yellow jersey.
- The first few hours of the afternoon resembled an elaborate slow-motion curtain call in which one rider after another rolled to the finish on the Promenade des Anglais to salute the crowd there to watch the final stage of this historic edition.
- Finishing their 2024 Tour early were history-makers Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), both of whom enjoyed particularly jovial celebrations into Nice, along with retirees like Simon Geschke (Cofidis) and Romain Bardet (DSM-firmenich PostNL), all of them seeking only to complete the TT within the time limit.
- Early leaders included Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) and Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), but it was always going to be the late starters who fought for stage honours.
- Canadian underdog Derek Gee was the first top-10 GC rider to break Martinez at the first time check, and the next to move ahead was Evenepoel, the world champion swapping rainbow bands for the race-edition white skin suit of best young rider.
- However, Vingegaard then blasted through the Belgian’s time up the climb, snatching back another 19 seconds, only for Pogačar to take seven seconds for himself – most of the climbing was now out of the way for the GC contenders.
- The top three continued to chip away at each other’s times, third-place Evenepoel obliterating Gee’s time, only for Vingegaard, then Pogačar to break through themselves.
- At the finish, Gee and Matteo Jorgenson – despite the Visma-Lease a Bike rider hitting the deck towards the start – both set new best times, but the top three were several levels above the rest. Both Pogačar and Vingegaard had slight scares as their rear wheels flicked around on the super-fast descent into Nice, but the arch-rivals held it up, only getting faster as the sun set on the Côte d’Azur.
- It was all but over at the third time check just a handful of kilometres from the finish, where Pogačar went a minute and four seconds faster than second-best Vingegaard.
- Evenepoel crossed the line over a minute faster than Jorgenson in fourth; Vingegaard took second 11 seconds out of the world champion; then Pogačar soared through the final few turns with time to spare, even sitting up to celebrate a sixth stage win – extending his lead by another minute and three seconds.
- It’s Pogačar’s third stage win in a row, sixth of the race, and 12 Grand Tour stage win of the 2024 season. Cor blimey.
Stage 21 top 10:
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Final GC top 10:
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Quotes of the day
I started with a good vibe in Monaco. It was a really lovely start on the Formula 1 grid, one of the best circuits in the world. At first, I was listening to the time gap to Remco – I didn’t have any other time gaps, but in the end I felt super good over the top of the first climb. Then in my head I heard Urška’s sentence that she hates me for doing these roads in training all the time. We did it so many times this year so I was like ‘I will not waste the preparations for today’ … Maybe for some people would think the Giro was a safety net if I didn’t succeed at the Tour de France. For such it would’ve been – if I didn’t win here, it would’ve been an incredible year already, but to win the Tour is another level and to win both together is another level above that level. I’m super happy and really proud that we did it.”
Pogačar said after stage 21.
One of the other main storylines of the 2024 Tour was Cav’s historic 35th stage win, and the 39-year-old was emotional upon finishing his final Tour de France.
I’m feeling very very lucky to have the career I’ve had, to work with the people I have … to meet the people I have, to be able to live a dream, like everybody’s dream. You know, you see the success, you see photos of wins, videos of wins, but it’s very rarely that people see everything that goes in behind, everything that makes that. It’s taught me a lot about myself, it’s taught me a lot about how to be a father, and that’s the biggest thing I take from the sport really.”
An emotional Cavendish told the media scrum on the Promenade des Anglais.
One of Cav’s heirs in the sprinting field is Biniam Girmay who also made history more than once at the 2024 Tour: the first Black African to win a Tour de France stage; the first Black African to win the green jersey.
Wearing the green jersey is an honour, the symbol of the sprinter. This is a new dream come true. To be honest I didn’t come into this race with this ambition, I just came here to show I’m not a bad rider. I’m just grateful to have today, it’s the most amazing day of my life.”
Girmay said after finishing his TT effort in Nice.
Social highlights or one last Cav watch
And finally, as the Tour de France draws to a close and the parties begin in Paris Nice, there’s one more man deserving of a nod in this social media section, and that’s Thibaut Pinot, from whom we can all take tips on how to enjoy retirement, as topless he cruises the Promenade des Anglais on a lime bike while sipping on a Tourtel Twist.
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