By: Leaya Chen

The Tour de France, held annually in June and July, is known for being the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tours. In 2024, this bicycle race lasted from Saturday, June 29 to Sunday, July 21. Bikers biked from Paris, France, to Nice, France, about 3,498 km, or 2,174 mi.

This year, Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia came in first. He came in first in 2020 and 2021, but he fell to second in 2022 and 2023, the first being Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark.
Most people assumed that his championship era was over. But Pogacar made a shocking comeback, climbing his way back to first. He completed a great victory and took his trophy and new yellow jersey.

Setting off last among the Tour’s 141 surviving riders on Sunday, July 21, Pogacar rode with the confidence of a sure winner. He finished one minute and three seconds ahead of Vingegaard.

“After two hard years in the Tour de France, always some mistakes,” Pogacar said. “This year — everything to perfection. I am super happy to win here.”

Jonas Vingegaard said, after the race, “I would have loved to go a bit further.”

Pogacar completed what is known as a double: winning the two biggest cycling tours, the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, in the same season. He is the first to complete a double since Marco Pantani in 1998.

After his third Tour win, Pogacar happily said: “This is the first one where I was totally confident every day. Even in the Giro, I had one bad day — I won’t tell which one.”