By: Matthew Wang

Athlete Tadej Pogacar from Slovenia reclaimed his former glory, winning the Tour de France for the third time after losing twice to Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark. After two consecutive losses, Pogacar’s win cemented him with the 6th most wins in the history of the competition, only 2 wins away from the top.

The Tour de France, the most prestigious out of the 3 grand tours, is one of the most well known biking competitions in the world, containing 21 segments with one per day. The tour typically crosses the Alps and the Pyrenees and is mostly completed in the month of July.

Throughout the race, Pogacar’s lead only grew as the race went on. During the span of the race, he won 5 segments out of 21, expanding his lead to levels that only a complete disaster could overturn. In an interview with the New York Times, he admitted that “This is the first one I was totally confident every day.

Even in the [Giro d’Italia] I had one bad day — I won’t tell which one,” with the Giro d’Italia being the sister race to the Tour de France.

As the race drew to a close, it was clear that Vingegaard was out of luck, now merely trying to stay in second place. According to the NY Times, “Vingegaard, who was returning from broken ribs and a collarbone sustained in a crash in April due to an accident during the Tour de Basque Country, acknowledged afterward that the race was all but over, and on Saturday seemed to focus more on holding second place over Remco Evenepoel of Belgium.” Despite his injuries, Vingegaard was in the lead for the majority of the last segment of the race, only beaten in the final critical few hundred yards.

Pogacar’s win brought with it extra fame due to it being what was considered to be a “double,” due to his victory in both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de Francia. This makes him the first person to have completed this monumental feat since 1988. Having achieved such a great feat so young, it is for the future to tell what Pogacar or his rival will achieve in the many years to come.