Tadej Pogacar hailed a new "golden age" for cycling after securing a third Tour de France title on Sunday to add to his 2020 and 2021 triumphs. The 25-year-old won the final day's time-trial with defending champion Jonas Vingegaard coming second at 1 minute 03 seconds on the day to seal second overall ahead of Remco Evenepoel, third on the day and also third overall. Victory also gave Pogacar the first Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double since Marco Pantani in 1998.
"It was an amazing journey. What a battle with Jonas and Remco. So much happened," said the champion who finished 6mins 17secs ahead of Vingegaard in the final standings.
Evenepoel was 9mins 18secs off the pace. "We are living in the golden age of cycling. The rivalry with Remco (Evenepoel), Jonas (Vingegaard), Primoz (Roglic) is just incredible.
We have to take advantage of this moment." Astonishingly Pogacar won six stages on this edition of the Tour, just as he did when winning the Giro earlier in the season. "To achieve the double is incredible," added Pogacar who had been runner-up to Vingegaard for the last two years.
"When I won the Giro, some people said that it would serve as a safety net for me if I didn't win the Tour. Winning the Tour still represents the level above and winning the two is the next level." The world's greatest bike race, broadcast across the globe, featured a novelty finale on the French Riviera because of the Olympic Games in Paris.
Instead of the last day race around the Champs-Elyse.