Tour de France 2024: Pogacar wins time trial in Nice and is Tour de France winner
Thomas Huber
· 21.07.2024
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) has won the Grande Arrivee of the Tour de France 2024 in Nice in impressive style, bagging overall victory in the Tour of France. With a time of 45:24 minutes and an average speed of 44.537 km/h, he finished more than a minute ahead of second-placed Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike). Third place went to Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step), who secured the white jersey as the best young pro.
Pogacar takes overall Tour de France victory
With stage wins on the 4th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 20th and 21st stages, Tadej Pogacar was the outstanding rider of the 2024 Tour de France. The 25-year-old dominated the mountain stages in the Alps and the Pyrenees in particular. After his overall victories in the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021, he also deserved to win the Tour of France 2024. Thanks to a strong team led by Joao Almeida and Adam Yates, who both finished in the top six overall, and the German Nils Politt, he had a clear lead of over six minutes over second-placed Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step). Pogacar thus wins his second Grand Tour in 2024 after the Giro d'Italia in the spring.
I can't describe how happy I am. After two tough years at the Tour de France, everything went perfectly this year. I was confident every day, it went fantastically. Many, many thanks to everyone! Winning the Giro makes it an incredible year. - Tadej Pogacar in the winner interview
Cavendish and Geschke say goodbye
It wasn't just the holders of the special jerseys around Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) who brought home their victories in the mountains and points classification. Other riders also crossed the finish line in emotional fashion: Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Simon Geschke (Cofidis), among others, have characterised the Tour de France for years and crossed the finish line in Nice for the last time in their career at the Tour of France.
Tour de France 2024: Results - the top 10 of the 21st stage
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 45:24
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:03
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +1:14
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +2:08
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2:18
- Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +2:31
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +2:41
- Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +2:50
- Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +2:53
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +2:56
Tour de France 2024: The overall standings
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 83:53:32
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +6:17
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +9:18
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +19:03
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +20:06
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +24:07
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +25:04
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +26:34
- Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +27:21
- Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +29:03
This is how the 21st stage of the Tour de France 2024 went
Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan Team) was the first rider to roll down the start ramp in Monaco at 14:40, opening the demanding 33.7 kilometre individual time trial to Nice. First up were some sprinters: Mark Cavendish was one of those who took to the road early. He brought his last Tour de France stage of his career home safely and was celebrated at the finish. Biniam Girmay came through just as easily. The Eritrean won the points classification of the 2024 Tour de France with his finish in Nice.
Martinez with first target time
Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) was the first rider to set a reference time. With a time of 48:24 minutes and an average speed of 41.77 km/h, he was the clear leader for the time being. For a long time, no rider even came close to the young Frenchman's time. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) came close to his time, but missed it by a clear margin in the end. Meanwhile, Simon Geschke (Cofidis) also crossed the finish line, bringing the final Tour de France of his career to a close.
Tejada on the hot seat for a long time
Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan Team) was then the first rider to beat Lenny Martinez's time by around ten seconds thanks to a strong final sequence of 48:14 minutes. As a result, little happened at the front of the race for a long time. Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost) also missed out on the interim lead by almost a minute.
Before it was the turn of the classification riders, the race for the stage win came to a standstill: good time trial rider Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) played no part in the decision. Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), on the other hand, put in a strong time trial and finished fourth behind Tejada, Martinez and Campenaerts.
Classification riders start
The classification riders started at the end of the time trial. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) was the first rider to draw attention to himself when he slipped and fell on a right-hand bend. However, the American quickly recovered, was able to continue and subsequently showed a good race. Meanwhile, Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) also put in a strong time trial, setting the fastest time after the two climbs before it was the turn of the top three in the overall classification.
Pogacar with best time on the first climb
The order on the first climb was as follows: Pogacar was slightly faster than Vingegaard, who in turn beat Evenepoel's time. The three riders were also clearly faster than the rest of the field in the time trial and in a league of their own.
Jorgenson at the finish ahead of Gee
Matteo Jorgenson showed what a strong time trialist he is, especially on the descent. Before the top 3 of the overall classification crossed the finish line, the rider was leading ahead of Visma | Lease a Bike, Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Derek Gee.
Pogacar wins
While Remco Evenepoel beat Matteo Jorgenson's best time by almost a minute, Jonas Vingegaard came in second. The Dane was another eleven seconds faster than Evenepoel. Moments later, however, Tadej Pogacar pulverised the time again, taking the stage win with a one-minute lead over Vingegaard and also winning the stage race.
