Stage 21 Tour de France Summary: Tadej Pogacar Wins!

Stage 21 of the Tour de France was mostly flat with one hill (that the riders went over three times). Tadej Pogacar won the Tour. There were no changes to the overall classification today as Wout van Aert won stage 21. Pogacar tried to take the lead on stage 21 several times. He tried to win stage 21 several times and came in fourth. The riders rode over the wet cobblestones, and American racer Quinn Simmons proposed to his girlfriend (she said yes). Will you miss the Tour de France?

Stage 21 Summary

The big story again was the awful weather. The skies in Paris opened up, and it poured. The rain on stage 21 made the racing treacherous, but no riders fell. It did rain on the half a million spectators. The French President, Emmanuel Macron, was in attendance (as were many other dignitaries). The riders were celebrating finishing the most grueling sports competition in the world. Pogacar said he did not have the energy to compete for the stage 21 victory. He also described the feeling of winning the Tour again as being speechless. He also said he talked with Jonas Vingegaard.

The winner of stage 21, in the rain, was van Aert. He has struggled recently, but the commentators said he was back. Davide Ballerini finished second. Matej Mohoric finished third. Pogacar was fourth. American Matteo Jorgenson finished fifth.  This is the 50th time the Tour has finished in Paris.

In the overall classification following stage 21, there were no changes in the overall classification or the time differences. The race organizers gave all the riders the same time as the winner. Stage 21 was not about the overall competition. Pogacar stayed in first and won the Tour de France. Vingegaard was in second place and stayed 4:24 back. Florian Lipowitz stayed in third, 11:09 back. Oscar Onley stayed in fourth place, 12:12 back.

There was thought afterward that he could be the next winner of the Tour when Pogacar is done. Austrian Felix Gall stayed in fifth place, 17:12 back. Ben Healy won the most aggressive rider in the tour.

Glory for Pogacar

Pogacar won by over four minutes and was presented with the yellow jersey of the race leader by Macron. This is the fourth time he has won the Tour de France. His top speed was 75.6 kilometers per hour. Pogacar will turn only 27 this fall. It is speculated that he will win eight Tours de France. They played the Slovenian national anthem for his victory. He won by more than six minutes last year. The podium was last. Pogacar was first and Vingegaard was second, just like last year, and Lipowitz was third.

Conclusion

After stage 21, Van aert was elated. He said that the wet cobbles made it dangerous, but he managed to stay on his bicycle. He also made the point that this was a successful Tour, even though team leader Vingegaard finished second overall. It seemed like he was inferior to Pogacar; his team (Team Visma) won the team award. They also won two stages in this year’s Tour.

There is no tomorrow for the Tour de France. Interestingly, there was some speculation afterward that Vinegaraard would concentrate now on the Vuelta d’ España and the Giro d’Italia to avoid Pogacar. Maybe he will, Pogacar is better. Nevertheless, he presents a good foil to Pogacar. We’ll see how this rivalry unfolds in the coming years.

Lipowtz won the white jersey as the best young rider. It will be interesting to see what his ceiling is. Pogacar won the polka dot jersey as well. It is the 50th anniversary of the polka dot jersey. This is the third time he has won the polka dot jersey. He is one of five riders to win the award for best climber three times. Jonathan Milan won the points competition and the green jersey. Credit to Simmons, his teammate, who did much of the work for him.