Van Aert wins a magical third Tour de France stage as Pogačar wins overall
Van Aert wins a magical third Tour de France stage as Pogačar wins overall
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) took a fantastic stage 21 victory on the Champs-Élysées as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) sealed his second straight Tour de France win, having led the race since stage 8.
The 2021 Tour de France ended with a 108.4 km stage from Chatou to Paris. A processional run-in got things underway in now traditional fashion before the peloton hit the first of eight laps finishing on the Champs-Élysées.
A series of determined attacks started immediately after the first passage of the finish line, but they were easily controlled by the sprint teams. The bunch gallop was a bit messy in the end, and it was Van Aert who came out on top, adding a sprint to his mountain and time trial stage wins at this year’s Tour.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) finished second and Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep) settled for third after finding himself out of position on the finishing straight. Though he was unable to break Eddy Merckx’s record, Cavendish does win the points classification for the second time in his career, ten years after his first green jersey.
As well as taking overall victory, Pogačar also wrapped up his lead in the best young rider and mountains classifications, and he’d be joined on the podium by Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) who confirmed second and third overall.
Tour de France (2.UWT) Chatou → Paris Champs-Élysées
POGAČAR Tadej
CAVENDISH Mark
POGAČAR Tadej
POGAČAR Tadej
Bahrain - Victorious