Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) rocketed to victory in the final time trial of the 2024 Tour de France more than one minute ahead of rivals Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step).
Pogačar’s time trial win sealed his overall GC victory, 6:17″ ahead of Jonas Vingegaard and 9:18″ ahead of Remco Evenepoel, and marked his third Tour de France victory after his 2020 and 2021 victories.
Pogačar explained afterwards how he went all out in the time trial. “It was a nice start in Monaco on the F1 circuit, one of the best circuits in the world. At first, I could hear the difference with Remco Evenepoel in my earpiece , I had no idea of the other time differences. In the end, I felt really good at the top of the first climb, where I often trained with Urska (Zigart, Pogacar’s wife). She hates that I always do those roads with her in training. And that’s why I wanted to show that we didn’t do that preparation for nothing.”
Pogačar was full of emotion about his third Tour de France victory. “I can hardly describe how happy I am to achieve this, after two tough years in the Tour. I always made mistakes, but this year we executed everything to perfection. To be able to win again is incredible. This is the first Grand Tour where I was full of confidence every day. Even in the Giro I remember a bad day, but I won’t say which one. This year’s Tour was incredible, it was a pleasure from day one until today.”
Vingegaard expressed afterwards at how thankful he was to be competing after his accident. “It’s very nice for me to be back at a very, very high level. After everything that happened with the crash… to be able to get back like this, second is a very big result. I think, with everything in mind, it might be even a bigger result than winning the Tour when everything went perfect. I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired after a Grand Tour. To be honest, I’m exhausted. Of course I want to come back and win again. But I think I need some rest now.”
Evenepoel explained afterwards how difficult the season had been. “I’ve been through a lot again this year. I’ve had a lot of pressure, a lot of doubts from outside. I’ve worked really hard to be at this level. To do it and finish after the two best riders in the world is really special and great. It’s a confirmation of the hard work I’ve done.”It certainly was not easy, the fall in the Tour of the Basque Country did not help. It was a rush, but it ended well. That can only be good for the future. I also see these performances as a nice answer to all doubters and critics. I hope that all doubters continue to believe in me and that it is over with saying that I cannot ride major tours.”
RESULTS
Stage 21 (ITT): Monaco > Nice (33.7km)
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OVERALL RESULTS
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