Sundayâs final stage of the 2024 Tour de France saw Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) confirm his third overall Tour victory with first place in the ITT from Monaco to Nice. On a balmy afternoon on the CĂ´te d’Azur Pogacar made light work of the climbs to La Turbie and Col d’Ăze to take the time trial win by a considerable 1â03â margin from Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) for his sixth stage bouquet of this yearâs race and his third overall Tour triumph.
In the Yellow Jersey again, Pogacar finally finished the 2024 Tour 6â17â ahead of his great Danish rival, having dominated the race. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) was in tears at the end of his Tour debut in Niceâs Place Massena, finishing the final stage in third, behind Pogacar by 1’14â, leaving him also third overall, 9’18â adrift of the unstoppable Slovenian. The GC top five was rounded out by Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) at 19’03â and Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) at 20’06â.
Cavendish takes a bow
141 riders took part in the final stage of the 2024 Tour, a 33.7km Individual Time Trial from Monaco to Nice with everything on the line. Mark Cavendish was the second rider to start â after his Astana Qazaqstan teammate Davide Ballerini â and the veteran British rider achieved his objective of finishing his final Tour de France. With a record 35 stage victories in the Tour to his name, Cavendish ended his historic relationship with this race as a rider in the most beautiful way possible, concluding it for the 8th time in his 15 participations. Intermarche-Wanty’s Biniam Girmay also knew that he would not win this ITT stage, but he too made it to the finish in Nice in style, to the cheers and support of the crowd, becoming the first African rider to win a ranking in the Tour de France, in his green jersey.
Martinez sets a marker
Groupama-FDJâs young Frenchman Lenny Martinez completed the course at an impressive average speed of 41.8 km/h and in a time of 48’24â to position himself as the provisional leader, where he would remain for well over an hour, until Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) took over in the top spot, beating Martinez by 10â. In tears yesterday after his final Tour de France stage in the mountains, French hero and Yellow Jersey wearer on Stage 2 Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) was given huge support by the fans on his last ever day on the Tour. Due to retire just before the 2025 Tour, Bardet finished todayâs stage in 37th place and was 30th in the final GC.
Carapaz in polka dots
Ecuadorian star Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) finished a highly successful Tour as the winner of the Mountain classification with 127 points, compared to 102 for Pogacar and 70 for Vingegaard. It is Ecuador’s first victory in any final ranking of the Tour de France.
The GC favourites fight for final win
Riders such as Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Derek Gee (Israel – Premier Tech) and
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) all enjoyed a moment with the provisional lead before the GC top 3 finished their runs. Pogacar was already the fastest man in the first sector, 7â and 26â ahead of Vingegaard and Evenepoel, increasing those respective advantages to 24â over Vingegaard and 51â on Evenepoel at the second intermediate marker on Col dâĂze. Pogacar was absolutely flying by the time he reached the Place Ăle de BeautĂŠ in Nice (km 28.6), the third and final intermediate marker, with 1’04” over Vingegaard and 1’28” over white jersey winner Evenepoel, going on the wrap up the victory and a third overall GC success in superb style. – www.letour.fr
