And so at the conclusion of the 113th Tour de France, it’s no great surprise that Tadej Pogačar has joined the exclusive five-time winners’ club. There was little doubt beforehand and little doubt throughout the three weeks that anyone could mount a serious challenge. Once Jonas Vingegaard crashed out of the race on stage 15, the only real interest became who would join the World Champion on the steps of the podium and how many more stages the Slovenian could or would win.
This Pogačar overall victory was probably his least stressful in terms of a rival being at his level on all terrains. When Visma Lease a Bike lost their GC leader Vingegaard, the challenge was never going to be a head-to-head one but potentially an error on the part of UAE Team Emirates-XRG letting dangerous riders be part of an attacking group. Despite illness striking the team in the final week and Brandon McNulty having to abandon, they always had the race situation in hand. The consequence of Pogačar’s dominance at the head of affairs played out between the riders and teams in the fifth to tenth spots in the overall standings as the days counted down in the third and final week. The biggest shock came from a Pinarello-Q36.5 assault, with Tom Pidcock temporarily jumping up to fourth before tumbling back down the rankings as the other teams reacted to being caught out.
Del Toro had a front row seat to a Grand Tour masterclass
The final step on the podium, like in 2025, came down to the two young riders involved in the white jersey classification. Isaac del Toro versus Paul Seixas. Both future stars once the Pogačar era has ended, but here in their first Tour racing in the lead group and learning vital lessons for later. That Del Toro maintained the third spot was as much due to Pogačar’s guidance as to the two additional years of maturity he has over his French rival. The Mexican champion had the experience of a Giro d’Italia and a Vuelta a España in his legs, while young Seixas was in totally unknown territory as soon as he passed a week of racing. Even though the latter rode with increasing patience, there’s no way of knowing how a rider will be in the last week of a Grand Tour when they haven’t been near that level of endurance.
Pogačar being shadowed by his closest rivals at this year’s Tour (Image credit: Getty Images)
What we have seen is that Paul Seixas merits the hype surrounding him, and the work now is for Decathlon CMA CGA to reinforce their squad around him. That might come at the cost of guys like Olav Kooij being left to do their own thing, but it is probably what France expects. The speculation over Seixas’ future is only going to get more intense after his showing at this year’s Tour.
Del Toro, on the other hand, is in a more certain situation as Pogačar’s heir apparent, with less stress and a ringside view of how greatness operates.
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(Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Then there’s Remco Evenepoel, fighting off the doubters and the Belgian media who expect miracles all day, every day. Some seem to forget that Evenepoel was the only GC rider who put time into the yellow jersey. It was to be expected in the individual time trial but not a given, and more surprising on the two mountain-top finishes. Outsprinting Pogačar and Del Toro at Plateau de Solaison and riding away from the front group on Alpe d’Huez. They might not have been decisive gaps each time, but they were gaps nonetheless, and that has to be good for Evenepoel’s confidence. It certainly added weight to his claim to be the main GC leader at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. We don’t know how Florian Lipowitz would have coped in the final battles, but Evenepoel was one of the few who seemed to be still capable of racing at their best level as Paris came into view.
Seeing Richard Carapaz make the polka dot jersey his own was a masterclass in tactics and commitment from the rider and the EF Education-Easypost squad. Riders in the escape each time, probing, pushing and wearing out the only direct challenge from Valentin Paret-Peintre. The latter was faster but less resistant to the fatigue of sprinting each time with either Carapaz or Ben Healy. Two stage wins in the last week showed the Ecuadorian finished the Tour in better shape than he began it, which is not an easy thing to manage. The drama with Sepp Kuss on the second Alpe d’Huez stage was one of those nail-biting moments when it could easily have gone either way for both of them. An individual win for Visma would have saved their Tour in some ways, but the margins between success and crashing out are often tiny and cruel.
Still, the King of the Mountains prize for Carapaz was a great result and a better outcome than the race leader taking the prize by default of being in the front most days. The classification, and how points are distributed, still needs some revision to bring it back to a competition that is open to more people, though.
After an enthralling three weeks, stage 21 delivered a spectacular closing chapter for the 2026 edition (Image credit: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Getty Images)
Lidl-Trek’s teamwork and a blockbuster finale
Something similar to the points classification, which was the main interest once Pogačar had made it clear to his rivals that resistance to his victory was futile. Mads Pedersen came under a lot of pressure from Jasper Philipsen but reacted accordingly, and in the best tradition of maillot vert winners, by going in the breakaway and taking the sprint points available along the way. He needed to be strong, and he was, but kudos also go to Quinn Simmons, who did a massive amount of work to make sure Pedersen stayed in contention. Lidl-Trek with Skjelmose and Ayuso also in the GC battle juggled their resources very well most days, even though there were moments, like stage 17 to Voiron, when they blew up trying to bring back a break which contained Philipsen. They were briefly worried by UAE in the team classification too, but the latter’s illnesses thwarted any chance of taking another of the Tour’s prizes.
For those not yet convinced by the inclusion of the Montmartre final on the last day, then this year’s edition produced one of the highlights of the race. Without rain, it’s certainly open to more riders; but saying that, it is still going to be a Classics-type rider who has a chance. Mathieu van der Poel based his day on following Pogačar in the final, probably because he knew the yellow jersey winning on the Champs-Élysées is one of his wants on an ever-dwindling to-do list. After the Alpe d’Huez and Carapaz-Kuss drama, you wouldn’t have imagined a more spectacular final 15 minutes. The modern peloton is one where our expectations are usually surpassed, and it was a fitting end to the fastest-ever Tour.
For all the astonishing moments and excitement, my memory of the 113th edition will be Tadej Pogačar’s ascent of Alpe d’Huez. He smashed it.
