Tadej Pogacar wins fourth Tour de France, conquers ghosts to chase all-time record

NBC Sports

12 hours ago

As Tadej Pogacar relaxed on the sands of Seychelles, the 2025 Tour de France route was revealed last October. So was, it turned out, a theme of the Slovenian's pursuit of a fourth Tour title: the ghosts of Pogi's past.
Pogacar vanquished all of them en route to becoming the sixth — and youngest — man to win cycling's holy grail for a fourth time.
He crossed the Champs-Elysees finish line on Sunday, cementing a result of little doubt since he first took the yellow jersey after the fifth of 21 stages.
The margin of victory: 4 minutes, 24 seconds over Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, a two-time Tour winner who has finished runner-up in Pogacar's last three wins (2021, 2024 and 2025).
'It's the peak of my career,' Pogacar said earlier in the Tour. 'The last two, three years is where I try to hold it, as long as I enjoy it.'
Pogacar nears Tour de France record with fourth title
Around age 8, Pogacar yearned to follow older brother Tilen into the sport, but the club didn't have a bike small enough. They found one the next year.
He has grown into cycling royalty.
He is tied with Brit Chris Froome at four Tour de France titles. Next year, he can tie the record of five shared by Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil.
All of them won their fifth at age 29 or older. Pogacar is 26 and says he is enjoying the 'suffer fest' that is 2,000 miles of riding (including 32 miles of climbing) over three weeks.
If Pogacar does suffer on the bike, he does it better than anyone else, perhaps ever.
In 2024, he became the third man to win the sport's Triple Crown (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and World Championship road race titles in one year) after Merckx (1974) and Irishman Stephen Roche (1987).
Mary Omatiga,
How Tadej Pogacar won the 2025 Tour de France
If there was any doubt going into the 2025 Tour, it's that the route included three climbs on which Pogacar struggled to varying degrees in past Tours.
'I'm almost confident to say that it (the route) was designed to give me a bit of scaredness,' he said.
Plus Pogacar finished eighth in the time trial at this June's Criterium du Dauphine, the primary Tour prep event (though he still won the Dauphine overall).
Yet Pogacar never struggled at this Tour. He dominated even without key teammate Joao Almeida, who was fourth at the 2024 Tour but withdrew during stage 9 this year due to a fractured rib.
Stage 5: Pogacar is second in a 21-mile time trial. Most importantly, he gains 65 seconds on Vingegaard. He later wins another shorter (but uphill) time trial in stage 13.
Stage 12: After crashing near the end of the previous day, Pogacar wins by 2:10 over Vingegaard on the Tour's first beyond-category summit finish at Hautacam. In 2022, it was Vingegaard who won at Hautacam by 64 seconds over Pogacar.
Stage 16: On the legendary Mont Ventoux, Pogacar is fifth on the day, but fastest of all the general classification contenders. He rides with Vingegaard up the climb nicknamed the Giant of Provence, then gaps the Dane by two seconds in the final leg-burning meters, sending a subtle message. In 2021, Pogacar was briefly gapped by Vingegaard on Ventoux before rejoining him on a downhill finish.
Stage 18: On a day with three beyond-category ascents, the finale is the Col de la Loze. Pogacar cracked on that climb in 2023, memorably telling his team radio, 'I'm gone. I'm dead.' Vingegaard beat him by 5:47 on that day. In the 2025 Tour, Pogacar is second at the Col de la Loze finish, gaining another nine seconds on Vingegaard.
In all, Vingegaard followed his 2022 and 2023 Tour titles over Pogacar by never gaining time on Pogacar on any of the 42 stages in the 2024 and 2025 Tours (aside from time bonuses).
'I've had two bad days,' Vingegaard said on the last rest day, referencing stages 5 and 12, which accounted for 3:19 of his 4:24 deficit. 'Normally I don't have any bad days.'
What is next for Tadej Pogacar?
Pogacar's post-Tour plans aren't set, but there are two major events left in 2025: the Vuelta a Espana, the year's third and final Grand Tour, from Aug. 23-Sept. 14, and the World Championships in Rwanda with a time trial (Sept. 21) and road race (Sept. 28).
Pogacar has raced the Vuelta once. He was third in 2019 in his Grand Tour debut at age 20, at the time the youngest man to make a Grand Tour podium in 45 years.
The Vuelta is the biggest missing title from his resume. If he races it, and wins it, he will become the eighth man to win all three Grand Tours in a career.
Pogacar won his first world title in 2024 in the road race. His best finish in three world championships time trials is sixth, but this year's route suits him. It has four climbs, plus an uphill finish. Only two men have won world titles in both the road race and time trial (Spain's Abraham Olano and Belgium's Remco Evenepoel).
Next year will be all about Pogacar's pursuit: to tie the record of five Tour de France titles.
For now, he has earned a rest. But it sounds like Seychelles must wait.
'Monday I travel home. Tuesday, maybe I'm on the bike, you never know,' he said Saturday. 'If I feel good, I go a bit riding, stop for coffee, and enjoy summer at home.'
Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar reflects on his lieutenant Joao Almeida withdrawing from Stage 9 of the 2025 Tour de France, lamenting how painful it must have been and shifting his focus to winning the race "for Joao."
Tejay Van Garderen and Brent Bookwalter break down Jonas Vingegaard's strategy against Tadej Pogacar in Stage 19, discussing why they expected more out of the Danish climber.