Tadej Pogacar also wins the last stage and bids farewell to Tour de France 2024 in style

Tadej Pogacar takes the sixth stage victory in the 2024 Tour. The Slovenian sealed a memorable Tour de France, which he has conquered for the third time with overwhelming dominance. Vingegaard pulled out pride and finished the day with the second best time, surpassing Evenepoel who had to settle for third place.

 

Pogacar continues to write a dream story: sixth stage and third Tour in a day where he was once again the best

The Tour de France 2024 prepared to close the 111th edition with a 33.7-kilometer route that connected the towns of Monaco and Nice. A battle against the clock overshadowed by the already decided positions at the top of the table, but with the attraction of seeing the last contest between Vingegaard, Evenepoel, and a Pogacar who has passed through the Tour without finding a rival.

The rain threatened to disrupt the forecasts, and despite a few drops falling, the contenders for victory had to work on dry asphalt.

The individual time trial had as its main highlight the passage through La Turbie -second category, 8.1 km at 5.6%- and through a classic like the Col d'Èze. The city of Nice dressed up to welcome the best riders on the planet in a unique finish as it was the first time in history that the Tour ended outside of Paris.

Davide Ballerini did the honors as the rider responsible for opening the day. It took a while to see the first significant time, set by the Frenchman Lenny Martínez, who beat Matej Mohoric's time by almost three minutes. The leadership remained in the hands of the Groupama-FDJ cyclist until the arrival of a Harold Tejada who took the lead after completing the route nine seconds faster.

Things continued this way until the arrival of the top contenders. The sun was beginning to set when Remco Evenepoel -winner of the first Tour time trial, more in line with his characteristics- was the first of the favorites to push hard on the pedals. Jonas Vingegaard started two minutes later, while Tadej Pogacar did the same after the Dane.

 

The riders covered part of the Formula-1 circuit before turning their backs on the city of casinos and facing the first serious slopes. Evenepoel showed his desire to end his first participation in the Tour on a high note; his pedaling reflected a great sense of speed, accompanied by an -almost- perfect aerodynamic position that the Belgian usually adopts.

The sensations turned into reality at the first intermediate point, located at 11.2 km. 20'36". The best virtual time after beating Derek Gee's time by 36 seconds. Still, Vingegaard raised the stakes by lowering it by 19 seconds. The joy lasted until the arrival of the yellow jersey of Pogacar, who beat everyone to take 7 seconds from Vingegaard and 26 from Evenepoel.

Up ahead, Santiago Buitrago took the tenth position in the general classification from Giulio Ciccone, who started with a 22-second advantage.

Evenepoel marched steadily to the second intermediate point -located at km 17.1- to beat the best time by 46 seconds. However, the same pattern repeated itself, and first Vingegaard -who surpassed him by 27 seconds- and then Pogacar -who broke the time by 24 seconds faster than the Belgian from Soudal Quick-Step- surpassed the mark.

Minutes passed without changes in the script, and while waiting for the favorites to set new records, news came from the finish line. Derek Gee set the best provisional time moments before Matteo Jorgenson took that honor away from him by 23 seconds. Shortly after, Carlos Rodríguez confirmed his seventh place in the general classification after a good defense by Adam Yates of the sixth position.

The top three in the general classification completed the descent to the limit, and the gaps widened once again. The last intermediate point -at Place Ile de Beauté, at km 28.6- gave Pogacar a 1'04" advantage over Vingegaard and a 1'28" advantage over Evenepoel.

 

Final effort. The final kilometers led to Nice; Joao Almeida and Mikel Landa crossed the finish line to finish fourth and fifth in the general classification, respectively. Evenepoel pushed hard to become the virtual leader of the time trial with a final time almost a minute better than that set by Jorgenson. Vingegaard took the honor from the Belgian by lowering the best time by another 11 seconds.

And then came Pogacar who, after taking the last kilometers a bit more calmly -if that's even possible-, appeared in style to celebrate the sixth stage victory of the 2024 Tour and the third triumph in the most important race in the world. The superiority and dominance of the Slovenian were the hallmark of a Tour in which he has been the absolute protagonist and once again proved it in this final time trial.

Special mention to Mark Cavendish, who bids farewell to the 2024 Tour in style after becoming the rider with the most stage victories in the history of the Grande Boucle. As a curiosity, he finishes his last participation in the Tour in last place.

General classification results Tour de France 2024

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
2.  Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +6'17"
3.  Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +9'18"
4. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +19'03"
5. Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) +20'06"
6. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +24'07"
7. Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +25'04"
8. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +26'34"
9. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +27'21"
10. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) +29'03"