Sunday, July 21, 2024 – Monaco to Nice, France – Stage 21
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) confirmed his third overall Tour victory with first place in the ITT from Monaco to Nice on Sunday. He beat his closest competition, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) by 1 minute and 30 seconds, showing little trouble on the the climbs to La Turbie and Col d’Èze to take the time trial win by a considerable margin.
“This year, everything went to perfection,” said Pogacar. “I’m super happy, it’s incredible. This is the first Grand Tour on which I have been totally confident every day.”
“Today I started with a good vibe… In my head, I had my girlfriend Urska’s words – that she hated me
because I always did this road on training. But it was not wasted time, as it was useful today.”
It was also his sixth stage win of this year’s race and his third overall Tour triumph. In the Yellow Jersey in this ultimate stage, Pogacar finished the 2024 Tour 6’17” 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 Nice’s Place Massena, finishing the final stage in third, behind Pogacar by 1’14”, leaving him also third overall, 9’18” adrift of the unstoppable Slovenian.
The GC top five was rounded out by Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) at 19’03” and Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) at 20’06”.The final stage of this year’s Tour took place in Nice with 141 riders completing a 33.7km Individual Time Trial from Monaco to Nice with everything on the line.
The Last Stage was an actual competition this year
The Tour skipped the normally symbolic last stage in Paris this year because of the Olympics being held there and with an opening ceremony on July 26, the city could not be host to the final stage. But this also meant if things had gone a little differently, the last stage could have changed the cards with a time trial specialist, making the last stage for the first time in history non-symbolic and highly competitive. Knowing this, Pogacar had already strategically added too much time between himself and the second place winner, Vingegaard, over the entire course of this year’s Tour, so that he could be assured that the Maillot Jaune would not change hands.
Carapaz, Evenepoel, Girmay, Vingegaard
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.
“I am super happy with my Tour de France,” said Carapaz after the stage. “In Ecuador there are very few top-level athletes, but we have achieved great things. I am very proud to be able to bring this jersey to my country.”
One of the big stories of the year may also be Remco Evenepoel, (Soudal- QuickStep) who raced for the
first time the Tour de France this year, and not only came third in the GC, but also cinched the best Young Rider (white) jersey. It is unusual for a first year rider to place in the top three.
“It’s pretty good for my first Tour de France… I finished on the podium in the general classification, with the white jersey for best young rider and a stage victory, I can be proud of myself and my team,” said Evenepoel.
The other big story is Biniam (Bini) Girmay who surprised fans and himself as well by tying up the green jersey. The Eritrean is the first African to win a Tour de France stage, and his consistent performance yielded him the coveted sprinter’s jersey.
“What can I say? I feel like I’m floating through the sky. It’s super nice. I just want to say for the young kids, keep working hard and everything is possible,” said the young man who managed to win the jersey without the usual head and shoulder butts in the sprint up to the line. He has been described by onlookers as “clean.”
Jonas Vingegaard, who has been trading first place in the GC with Pogacar, and who nipped at his heels this whole Tour, didn’t have enough power to overcome the Slovenian in successive crucial mountain stages, when Pogacar carved out his lead. It should be noted that the Tour is very much a chess game on wheels, where strategy over the 21 days is
crucial to winning.
“Under normal circumstances, I would be disappointed with my Tour de France,” said Vinegegaard. But, after everything I’ve gone through, I can’t be disappointed. I didn’t have a good preparation towards this race, yet I still managed to regain a good fitness level…it is what it is.”
“The Tour de France is the race I love the most, the most beautiful one – it just has something special. I believe the yellow jersey is the most beautiful jersey in road cycling…I’m looking forward to come back.”
The Cav’s Last Tour?
Mark Cavendish was the second rider to start – after his Astana Qazaqstan teammate Davide Ballerini – 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.
Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) 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 the green jersey.
A Marker is set
Groupama-FDJ’s Frenchman Lenny Martinez completed the course with an average speed of 41.8 km/h in a time of 48’24” 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 10”. 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 today’s stage in 37th place and was 30th in the final GC.
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 achieved a provisional lead before the GC top 3 finished their runs.
Pogacar was already the fastest man in the first sector, 7” and 26” ahead of Vingegaard and Evenepoel, increasing these advantages to 24” over Vingegaard and 51” on Evenepoel at the second intermediate marker on Col d’Èze. Pogacar was flying by the time he reached the Place Île de Beauté 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 style.
