Tadej Pogacar wins his fifth Tour de France title, equalling record of cycling greats

Tadej Pogacar has won a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title after the final stage ended in Paris.

The Slovenian star joins Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the only men with five Tour titles to their name.

"I have done a really good Tour. Some of our competitors had bad luck," the 27-year-old said earlier, after his main rival Jonas Vingegaard crashed out of the race.

Pogacar stormed through stage 19 to Alpe d'Huez, setting a record time of 25 minutes 27 seconds for the final climb.

The final stage had been shortened due to emergency services being diverted to battle wildfires in the southwest of France.

Pogacar has won five stages of this year's race and 26 overall.

He won the race in 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025, with his rival Vingegaard winning in 2022 and 2023.

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Pogacar and van der Poel were locked in a duel on the final circuit before van der Poel used his famed sprinter's speed to pull away.

While he ended up in 30th on the final stage on Sunday, Pogacar had the overall title long in hand as he won the Tour de France for the third consecutive year with a time of 73 hours, 56 minutes, 26 seconds.

He finished 6 minutes and 26 seconds ahead of Belgium's Remco Evenepoel over the three weeks, while his UAE Team Emirates teammate Isaac del Toro finished third overall - also clinching the title for top rider 25-years-old and under.

Mathieu van der Poel of Belgium won the final stage in a sprint to the finish line along Paris' Champs-Elysees.Pogacar also said after the race: "It's an incredible day and an incredible atmosphere. I'm happy that it's over and we won for a fifth time."

"Every victory is really special and seven Tours already, seven times on the podium, with five wins, it's something that you wouldn't even write in a storybook.

"It's unbelievable for me."

(c) Sky News 2026: Tadej Pogacar wins his fifth Tour de France title, equalling record of cycling greats