Tadej Pogacar wins fourth Tour de France title as Wout van Aert takes last stage

Tadej Pogacar celebrated his fourth Tour de France title in Paris but was denied what would have been a stunning final stage victory as Wout van Aert rode away on the wet cobbles of Montmartre to win on the Champs-Elysees.

Pogacar looked keen to take what could prove to be a unique opportunity to win in yellow in Paris as the introduction of three ascents of the climb to Montmartre reshaped the usual final day procession, but Van Aert broke clear on the last time up to take the glory.

Although the general classification times had been neutralised in the soggy conditions, Pogacar still had to finish to secure his title yet was willing to risk it all on the greasy cobbles in pursuit of a fifth stage win of this Tour.

The Slovenian attacked each time up the narrow climb to whittle down a leading group to just a handful of riders, but had no response when Van Aert made his move 400 metres from the summit of the final ascent, winning solo by 19 seconds from Davide Ballerini.

“It was a special day out,” said Van Aert, who took his 10th career stage win and first since 2022. “It is really special to win here on the Champs-Elysees once again and on the first occasion we climbed to Montmartre.

“The rain made it quite sketchy but I managed to stay upright. I had the full support of my team and I really have to thank them, to keep believing in me over and over again…

“Going into the last climb, to leave it all out there was our plan and it worked.”

Pogacar sat up to safely bring home the yellow jersey and beat his rival Jonas Vingegaard by a final margin of four minutes and 24 seconds, moving level with Chris Froome on four titles, one shy of the record jointly held by Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Jacques