Key Points

On Sunday, Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was unable to match the Belgian's massive attack on the third and final ascent of the Butte de Montmartre in a sodden Stage 21 of the Tour in the French capital. World champion Pogacar could still raise his arms to the skies on the Champs-Elysees - not to celebrate his fourth place in the stage, but his fourth Tour triumph.

Italy's Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) pipped Slovenia's Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) for second place in an absorbing final stage, which was livened by torrential rain and three laps on a similar lumpy loop that made the Paris 2024 Olympic Road race so memorable last summer, as per a press release.

Van Aert's first stage win on the Tour since 2022 came after his American team-mate Matteo Jorgenson put in a series of accelerations to soften up the six-man leading group ahead of the decisive climb up the 1.1km ascent of the Rue Lepic.

With times for the general classification taken after the initial four loops of the traditional Champs-Elysees circuit, Pogacar had no need to push for a fifth win. But the 26-year-old did the yellow jersey proud by going all-out for his 22nd career stage win on the Tour.

Pogacar had attacked on the previous two climbs in Montmartre, and the race leader looked to have made the decisive move with another acceleration on the final climb.

But as Ballerini slipped back the same way as Jorgenson, Mohoric and Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling), Van Aert not only drew level with Pogacar but then achieved something no one else has managed in the past three weeks: drop the four-time champion on a climb.

Van Aert held a five-second advantage over the summit - a lead which grew as he threw caution to the wind on the technical descent back into central Paris, while his pursuer Pogacar decided to sit up and wait for reinforcements.

Victory for Van Aert was the tenth time the Belgian had won a stage on the Tour - but the first since 2022, thanks to a series of injuries that have hampered his performances.

"It was a special day out - and really special to win here on the Champs-Elysees again, and on the first occasion where we climbed to Montmartre," the 30-year-old Wout said.

"The rain made it quite sketchy, but I managed to stay upright, and I had the full support of my teammates. I really have to thank them for continuing to believe in me."

"They helped me control this race so that I could leave it all out there on the last climb. It was our plan, and it worked. I came close a few times [earlier in the Tour], but I was quite far off on several occasions. Yesterday, I wasn't good enough to even make the breakaway."

"The hardest thing was to keep the belief, but because people around me were able to do it, I could as well," he concluded.

A second stage win for his Visma-Lease a Bike team - following Simon Yates's victory in the Massif Central - was just reward for a team which did itself proud despite being unable to deliver Jonas Vingegaard to a third win, according to Wout.

"We came here with the ambition to win the yellow jersey, but the strongest rider in the race and the biggest rider in the world, Tadej Pogacar, won it," said Wout.

"We tried to give him competition, and I am proud of how we tried to beat him. We had a great group, and we won the team classification, so we should be proud," he added.

Pogacar might have missed out on a final-day bonanza in the City of Light, but he nevertheless joins British legend Chris Froome on four Tour titles and moves within one of the outright record of five shared by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

With the final times for the general classification taken 50km from the finish because of the severe weather, there were no changes in the final top 10 in Paris. Pogacar won the 112th edition of the Tour by 4'24" over Denmark's Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), whose two Tour wins in 2022 and 2023 now seem like a distant memory.

Germany's Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) joined Pogacar and Vingegaard on the final podium after an impressive debut Tour saw the 24-year-old take third place at 11'00" and the white jersey. Scotland's Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) was fourth and Austria's Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) fifth.

"It was a great decision by the organisers to neutralise the stage because no one had to risk anything and it was fair play," Pogacar said.

"I gave it a go because I was on the front. But Wout was incredibly strong today, and he did an amazing attack on the top of the climb, and he deserved this big, big win," he added.

In a dominating display of his all-round invincibility this July, Pogacar won four stages and secured the polka dot jersey as the race's best climber. He also finished second in the green jersey standings, won by the Italian Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), who won two sprint stages in his debut appearance.

The world champion moved into the yellow jersey for the first time after finishing behind Belgium's Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) in the Stage 5 individual time trial at Caen, one day after he notched his first stage win on the punchy finish at Rouen.

Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took back the yellow jersey one day later in Vire Normandie, before Pogacar's victory at Mur-de-Bretagne saw him back in the maillot jaune. Stage 6 winner Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) kept the jersey warm for Pogacar for two stages after the Irishman starred in the day's breakaway on Bastille Day.

Pogacar then started the second week of the race with a bang, winning back-to-back stages in the Pyrenees and moving back into yellow at Hautacam in Stage 12.

The 26-year-old Slovenian extended his lead in the Peyragudes mountain time trial before riding in a more measured manner in the Alps - eschewing extra stage wins for defensive riding that nevertheless saw his lead over Vingegaard stretch to almost four and a half minutes.

"I am super happy that it is over. But I quite enjoyed the whole Tour, and I think I will maybe already miss it next week. It was a pleasure to be here, to wear this yellow jersey, to ride with my team-mates and fight against all my opponents," Pogacar said.

It remains to be seen if Pogacar will join his big rival Vingegaard at the start of the Vuelta a Espana next month, with the four-time champion showing clear signs of fatigue in the third week.

"Let us take one week off first. I want to enjoy some summer days - I want some hots days, but without the suffering on the bike. So, let's take a week off and we will see afterwards," he said, keeping his options open.

A long season has already seen Pogacar win Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege in the sprint, as well as come second behind Van der Poel in his debut Paris-Roubaix.

But it was at the Vuelta in 2019 where Pogacar exploded onto the scene - winning three stages on his way to a third-place finish in his debut Grand Tour - and victory in Spain would see Pogacar complete his clean sweep of Grand Tour victories a week before he turned 27.

Should he do so, he would become only the eighth rider in history to achieve the Treble, and the first since Froome in 2018.

The rest of the cycling season will unfold, and action can be seen live on EUROSPORT and EUROSPORT HD.

- ANI