A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia clinched victory Sunday at this year's Tour de France. A 21-mile sprint in the tour's final stage kept him ahead of his two chief Danish and Belgian rivals, as Willem Marx reports.
WILLEM MARX, BYLINE: As he raced along the Promenade des Anglais on Nice's seafront for his final few meters, Pogacar raised both hands and drew cheers from spectators, a streak of yellow flashing past. His win in the final stage was his sixth daily victory of the three-week-long contest. He ended Sunday 1 minute and 3 seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark and Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel, the reigning world champion for the sprints over shorter distances known as time trials. That 21st and final stage this year was historic for its location in the hills between Monaco and Nice rather than Paris's Champs Elyse, where the Olympics start Friday. After more than 2,000 miles in the saddle, Pegata was a clear tour winner and a fierce and high profile rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel as he acknowledged on the podium.
TADEJ POGACAR: I must say how happy I am to win this Tour de France and how crazy the journey was, how crazy the battles we had with Jonas here and Remco, and it was, yeah, one of the craziest tours, I think, in the history.
MARX: He last won the French contest back in 2021, but had ceded the title for the past two years to Vingegaard, setting up one of the most keenly watched contests in modern cycling. He'd also earned top prize in cycling's other major annual tour event this year, the Giro D'Italia, making him the first man this century to win both contests in the same season.
NPR News, I'm Willem Marx. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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