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Don\u2019t miss the 2026 Tour de France, which takes place from July 4-26 on Peacock.<\/p>\n
He wore the yellow jersey every day since that sixth stage, at first with a sizable lead of 2:42. He added to it in week two, then seemed to say enough was enough in week three once it ballooned at one point to over seven minutes.<\/p>\n
At 27, the Slovenian became the youngest of the handful of riders to share the record of five Tour titles. The others: Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil.<\/p>\n
Is Pogacar more dominant than ever? The numbers say this was similar to 2024, when Pogacar led every day after stage four with a final margin of 6:17.<\/p>\n
This year, Pogacar was so comfortable in the third week \u2014 usually the decisive week in a Tour \u2014 that he passed on chances to add to his sack of stage victories. He shifted to the role of domestique, helping teammate Isaac del Toro secure third place overall and a place next to him on the Champs-Elysees podium.<\/p>\n
Still, his five stage wins at this Tour give him 26 for his career, fourth all-time behind Mark Cavendish (35), Merckx (34) and Hinault (28).<\/p>\n
But at points over the three weeks, we were reminded of what can derail a Tour, even for the best riders.<\/p>\n
Jonas Vingegaard \u2014 who beat Pogacar in the 2022 and 2023 Tours \u2014 crashed out on stage 15, breaking his collarbone after colliding with road furniture.<\/p>\n
Tejay van Garderen and Brent Bookwalter recap Stage 15 of the Tour de France, including Jonas Vingegaard crashing out, a triumphant win for Remco Evenepoel and a big day for American Quinn Simmons.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe at the beginning we didn\u2019t have the best relationship, but in the last two years, we became good rivals, respected rivals, competitors, but I also think kind of friends,\u201d Pogacar said that day. \u201cThe Tour will not be the same without him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vingegaard was already a distant 4:30 behind Pogacar at the time. <\/p>\n
But could this Tour have been different from the start for Vingegaard\u2019s Visma-Lease a Bike outfit? What if Wout van Aert, who helped pull Vingegaard up the Pyreneees and Alps in previous years, and the only cyclist to beat Pogacar in a 2026 at Paris-Roubaix, didn\u2019t miss this Tour with an elbow injury?<\/p>\n
Then in stage 16, German Florian Lipowitz, third at the 2025 Tour, crashed on a late turn in the individual time trial and broke his collarbone.<\/p>\n
Florian Lipowitz\u2019s back wheel slipped going around a sharp right-handed turn in the Stage 16 individual time trial, sending him into the barrier and effectively taking him out of the 2026 Tour de France.<\/p>\n
Minutes later, Pogacar flinched in the same place. The heart-in-your-throat moment was a barefaced example of the thin margins that shape a Tour.<\/p>\n
Pogacar also avoided the worst of the illness that spread through his UAE Team Emirates XRG outfit in the third week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been through hell in the last days,\u201d he said after winning the 19th stage at legendary Alpe d\u2019Huez.<\/p>\n
Variables aside, this Tour reinforced the chasm separating Pogacar from the field. <\/p>\n
Take the words of Evenepoel after winning the 16th stage time trial by 28 seconds over Pogacar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just amazing that I can be a bit close to him,\u201d Evenepoel said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a big step forward that I can at least be a bit around him, and I try to learn from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next for Pogacar? He can stand alone with a sixth Tour title in 2027, though perhaps a younger rider like del Toro, 22, or 19-year-old Frenchman Paul Seixas, fourth in his Tour debut, can close the gap.<\/p>\n
Pogacar has yet to win the Vuelta a Espana, but hasn\u2019t seemed too bothered by that hole in his resume. He hasn\u2019t raced that event, which is held in September, since 2019, when he placed third in his maiden Grand Tour at age 20.<\/p>\n
He could also target a world title in the time trial, won by Evenepoel the last three years. Or a first Olympic gold medal in 2028.<\/p>\n
Or maybe none of them. Pogacar provided a peek into his outlook after Saturday\u2019s 20th stage when speaking about the 22-year-old del Toro.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely will not be doing this for too much long time, I think,\u201d he told European broadcaster TNT Sports. \u201cIsaac showed great potential, but we don\u2019t put any pressure yet on Isaac. I think he\u2019s still young. He learns a lot. He\u2019s a quick learner, he\u2019s super smart, big talent, big engine. Let\u2019s see where the road takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brent Bookwalter and Tejay van Garderen discuss the mini-battles that transpired in Stage 20, including Tadej Pogacar assisting his teammate Isaac Del Toro and strong rides from Mads Pedersen and Paul Seixas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Pogacar has ridden enough Tours de France \u2014 and certainly seen enough at this year\u2019s Tour \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-560758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}