Pogacar set for fourth Tour de France title and lasting fame

The cyclist finds himself in elite company as he notches up more victories. By Craig Ray

- By Craig Ray

When the 2025 Tour de France set off in Normandy nearly three weeks ago, consensus was that by the time the race reached Paris, 20 stages and 3,300km later, Slovenian Tadej Pogačar would be in the leader's yellow jersey.

And so it has come to pass. Barring a race-ending crash in the final two stages, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader will claim his fourth Tour de France title at the age of 26 when the flag comes down on the Champs-Élysées on Saturday, 26 July.

Pogačar (26) all but confirmed his victory on an epic stage 16 that ended with the mythical climb up the steep slopes of Mont Ventoux - the “Giant of Provence”. He finished fifth on the road that day, but showed he was unbreakable.

He fended off main rival Jonas Vingegaard (26) in a battle for the ages on the 21.5km climb at a 7.5% gradient up the mountain that had crushed Pogačar's hopes in 2021.

"I'm definitely not Superman, I was born in Ljubljana, not wherever Superman was born, I forget. But today was an epic climb to do, all the same," Pogačar said afterwards.

That might be news to his rivals, though, because the Slovenian is the closest thing to Superman in professional sport, let alone cycling. He is stacking up records and titles at a similar speed of rides down the slopes of a high mountain. No one in the peloton can touch him.

Vingegaard, the dour Dane, has been in good form this year. On the Ventoux stage, he and his Visma-Lease a Bike team had a great plan, which they executed to perfection to try to break Pogačar on the slopes of the giant.

Vingegaard had teammates around him in the main peloton as they approached Ventoux and he had allies in the breakaway several minutes ahead. The plan was for his lieutenants to give him vital support at various stages during the climb when he attacked Pogačar. The plan was excellent, especially with Vingegaard in superb form.