Pogačar reaches record summit

Slovenian set to complete recordequalling fifth Tour de France win

‘Even with the rough days, the team spirit cannot be better’ 

   - Tadej Pogačar

26 Jul 2026 - THE OBSERVER / Sport

Tadej Pogačar will ride into Paris today ready to be crowned the Tour de France winner for the third successive year and a record-equalling fifth time. The world champion sealed his latest victory by smashing Marco Pantani’s 1995 record time by one minute and 13 seconds to win atop the mythical Alpe d’Huez on Friday. The 27-year-old ascended the 13.8km col at an average speed of 23.9km/h, adding to his folklore and legend, and in the process ensuring that one of the famous 21 hairpins will be named after him.

“It’s a 30-something-years-old record finally broken, so that’s something good for us,” Pogačar said, admitting, once again, that records don’t motivate him. But the management team of UAE Team

Emirates-XRG were in tears. “I don’t know why they get so emotional,” Pogačar deadpanned. “I guess it meant a lot. Maybe I’ll appreciate it once it settles down.”

Yesterday, Pogačar helped his UAE team-mate Isaac del Toro secure third as Richard Carapaz scored his second stage victory of the race; the Ecuadorian looked destined to finish runner-up, only for Sepp Kuss to crash in the closing kilometres, narrowly avoiding serious injury.

The only occasions he didn’t come good on pre-stage favourite billing was when he gifted Del Toro stage two, and when Remco Evenepoel, second overall, beat him into second on the penultimate Sunday’s climb to Plateau de Solaison and the next stage’s 26km time trial.

Pogačar has dominated the race almost from start to finish: his biggest rival Jonas Vingegaard took yellow on the opening stage in Barcelona, but by the third day, Pogačar had won his first of five stages and taken control of the race. He then obliterated the field over the Tourmalet on stage six, and had further added to his advantage after the next two mountain stages.

Pogačar’s expected victory margin of 6:26 – he could still add to it in Paris today – is his largest ever He has also moved on to 26 stage wins in the Tour. At the rate he’s been winning, he’ll surpass Mark Cavendish’s record haul of 35 later this decade.

Illness appeared as a possible barrier to Pogačar’s coronation in the third week. His British teammate Adam Yates, according to Pogačar, “suffered like a dog” in stage 17 with a stomach infection that spread through the team.

Brandon McNulty was forced to abandon on stage 18, and Tim Wellens only just made the time cut. Riders isolated from one another and ate and slept in their separate rooms to protect both Pogačar and Del Toro. Come Alpe d’Huez, Yates was much improved, and the worst appeared to have passed. “Even with the rough days of the last few days, the team spirit cannot be better,” Pogačar said.

As is customary in the Tour given the sport’s dark past, Pogačar has also had to deal with fervent discussion about his credibility and whether his results will stand the test of time.

He and a few other riders – including Vingegaard, who crashed out of the race on stage 15 with a broken collarbone – were woken up in the middle of the night during the race by doping-control officers and made to provide an anti-doping sample.

Despite being allowed since 2016, it is the first time that nighttime tests have ever been used at the Tour. They are permitted for the purposes of detecting prohibited substances that have a short detection window or for the use of micro-dosing – the process of taking banned drugs in smaller quantities so that they wouldn’t show up in a doping test.

The UCI, cycling’s governing body, says that a judge may grant the use of nighttime tests if there is “serious and specific suspicion that the rider may be engaged in doping”. The International Testing Agency, the body that oversees cycling’s anti-doping programme, also defended their rollout. “Effective testing must, in limited and justified circumstances, be capable of occurring outside standard daytime hours,” it said.

An unannounced test in the early hours of the morning is not an indication of guilt, and the results of the tests would only be made public in the event of a positive doping test. “I accept it if this is necessary to prove that we are riding clean,” Pogačar said.

That saga dominated the narrative for much of the final week’s racing, but by the final weekend it was all about the two ascents of Alpe d’Huez, which were watched by hundreds of thousands of roadside spectators.

There will be more huge crowds on Paris’s Montmartre circuit today, when the race finishes with three demanding laps that pass the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, situated at the highest natural point in the French capital. The kickers favour Pogačar as much as the puncheurs – the specialists in short, steep climbs – the man resplendent in yellow is therefore heavily tipped to win his sixth stage of the race.

Whether he wins the final day’s racing or not, the Slovenian will go down as one of only five riders to have won the Tour five times. Should he be victorious in next year’s race – and it’s already hard to imagine that the greatest bike rider of all time won’t start as favourite – then he’ll also confirm his reputation as the greatest to grace Le Tour.

***

Pogačar overcomes tests to dominate Le Tour once more

The Slovenian is poised to win the prestigious race for a fifth time, writes Chris Marshall-Bell

‘Even with the rough days, 

the team spirit cannot be better’ 

   - Tadej Pogačar

Chris Marshall-Bell 

THE OBSERVER 

Tadej Pogačar will ride into Paris today ready to be crowned the Tour de France winner for the third successive year and a recordequalling fifth time. The world champion sealed his latest victory by smashing Marco Pantani’s 1995 record time by one minute and 13 seconds to win atop the mythical Alpe d’Huez on Friday. The 27-year-old ascended the 13.8km col at an average speed of 23.9km/h, adding to his folklore and legend, and in the process ensuring that one of the famous 21 hairpins will be named after him.

Dario Belingheri/Getty - It’s the climb: Tadej Pogačar, 

also below, sits just off Isaac del Toro as they ascend the Col du Galibier.

“It’s a 30-something-years-old record finally broken, so that’s something good for us,” Pogačar said, admitting, once again, that records don’t motivate him. But the management team of UAE Team

Emirates-XRG were in tears. “I don’t know why they get so emotional,” Pogačar deadpanned. “I guess it meant a lot. Maybe I’ll appreciate it once it settles down.”

Yesterday, Pogačar helped his UAE team-mate Isaac del Toro secure third as Richard Carapaz scored his second stage victory of the race; the Ecuadorian looked destined to finish runner-up, only for Sepp Kuss to crash in the closing kilometres, narrowly avoiding serious injury.

The only occasions he didn’t come good on pre-stage favourite billing was when he gifted Del Toro stage two, and when Remco Evenepoel, second overall, beat him into second on the penultimate Sunday’s climb to Plateau de Solaison and the next stage’s 26km time trial.

Pogačar has dominated the race almost from start to finish: his biggest rival Jonas Vingegaard took yellow on the opening stage in Barcelona, but by the third day, Pogačar had won his first of five stages and taken control of the race. He then obliterated the field over the Tourmalet on stage six, and had further added to his advantage after the next two mountain stages.

Pogačar’s expected victory margin of 6:26 – he could still add to it in Paris today – is his largest ever He has also moved on to 26 stage wins in the Tour. At the rate he’s been winning, he’ll surpass Mark Cavendish’s record haul of 35 later this decade.

Illness appeared as a possible barrier to Pogačar’s coronation in the third week. His British teammate Adam Yates, according to Pogačar, “suffered like a dog” in stage 17 with a stomach infection that spread through the team.

Brandon McNulty was forced to abandon on stage 18, and Tim Wellens only just made the time cut. Riders isolated from one another and ate and slept in their separate rooms to protect both Pogačar and Del Toro. Come Alpe d’Huez, Yates was much improved, and the worst appeared to have passed. “Even with the rough days of the last few days, the team spirit cannot be better,” Pogačar said.

As is customary in the Tour given the sport’s dark past, Pogačar has also had to deal with fervent discussion about his credibility and whether his results will stand the test of time.

He and a few other riders – including Vingegaard, who crashed out of the race on stage 15 with a broken collarbone – were woken up in the middle of the night during the race by doping-control officers and made to provide an anti-doping sample.

Despite being allowed since 2016, it is the first time that nighttime tests have ever been used at the Tour. They are permitted for the purposes of detecting prohibited substances that have a short detection window or for the use of micro-dosing – the process of taking banned drugs in smaller quantities so that they wouldn’t show up in a doping test.

The UCI, cycling’s governing body, says that a judge may grant the use of nighttime tests if there is “serious and specific suspicion that the rider may be engaged in doping”. The International Testing Agency, the body that oversees cycling’s anti-doping programme, also defended their rollout. “Effective testing must, in limited and justified circumstances, be capable of occurring outside standard daytime hours,” it said.

An unannounced test in the early hours of the morning is not an indication of guilt, and the results of the tests would only be made public in the event of a positive doping test. “I accept it if this is necessary to prove that we are riding clean,” Pogačar said.

That saga dominated the narrative for much of the final week’s racing, but by the final weekend it was all about the two ascents of Alpe d’Huez, which were watched by hundreds of thousands of roadside spectators.

There will be more huge crowds on Paris’s Montmartre circuit today, when the race finishes with three demanding laps that pass the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, situated at the highest natural point in the French capital. The kickers favour Pogačar as much as the puncheurs – the specialists in short, steep climbs – the man resplendent in yellow is therefore heavily tipped to win his sixth stage of the race.

Whether he wins the final day’s racing or not, the Slovenian will go down as one of only five riders to have won the Tour five times. Should he be victorious in next year’s race – and it’s already hard to imagine that the greatest bike rider of all time won’t start as favourite – then he’ll also confirm his reputation as the greatest to grace Le Tour.