Paris (AFP)
The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE), outgoing winner, won the Tour de France for the second time on Sunday on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, after the 21st stage masterfully won by the Belgian Wout van Aert (Jumbo).
The Belgian champion won in the final sprint at the expense of Briton Mark Cavendish, third on the stage.
The 26-year-old van Aert captured his third success since the start, his second in two days.
Exceptional performance, he won a mountain stage (the day of the double climb of Ventoux), a time trial (Saint-Emilion) and a massive sprint (Paris Champs-Elysées).
In a lavish sprint, the Belgian was led by Dutchman Mike Teunissen and outscored his compatriot Jasper Philipsen.
Cavendish, a four-time winner since the start, lost the wheel of his usual + pitcher +, the Dane Michael Morkov.
Third on the stage, he was unable to win for the 35th time on the Tour and beat the record for stage victories which he holds tied with the Belgian Eddy Merckx.
For consolation, he got the green jersey he had already brought back to Paris ten years ago.
In the final standings, Pogacar beat the Danish Jonas Vingegaard and the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, who were on the podium for the first time.
The gap between the first two, over five minutes, is the largest since 2014 and the success of the Italian Vincenzo Nibali.
Pogacar, which signed the second Slovenian victory in 108 editions, has accumulated three distinctive jerseys like last year: yellow (general classification), polka dots (mountain), white (young).
He took off three stages, a time trial and two finishes at the top.
In the last stage, 108.4 kilometers long from Chatou, the race accelerated on the first crossing over the finish line, at the halfway point.
Under the Parisian sun, no breakaway could count more than forty seconds ahead of the final circuit of the Champs-Elysées.
The last attackers (Schelling, Valgren, Van Moer) were caught 6 kilometers from the finish.
© 2021 AFP