Slovenian Tadej Pogacar wins the Tour de France for a record-equalling fifth time.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar won the Tour de France for a record-equalling fifth time. The 27-year-old UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider crossed the line on Paris' Champs-Elysees in the peloton, to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the endurance event's most successful male riders. All-conquering Pogacar raised the idea that his remarkable reality is proving stranger than fiction, describing it as "something you wouldn't even maybe write in a story book". The three-week Grand Tour's final stage was won by the Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Premier Tech after a frantic charge to the line on the French capital's famous cobbles in which he pipped Denmark's Mads Pedersen by inches. Pogacar's victory means he is positioned by many as the greatest cyclist of all time, superseding the achievements and status of Belgian legend Merckx. It also marks Pogacar's third Tour win in succession and includes a record-breaking ascent of the iconic Alpe d'Huez on stage 19, when he sealed another dominant victory. It was the last of four stage wins in a race in which Pogacar used his explosive launch and unmatchable metronomic pace to see off his rivals, who for some time have had virtually no answer. Pogacar has won almost every major race in the sport, including the Tour of Flanders, Giro d'Italia, Milan-San Remo, Road World Championships, Giro di Lombardia and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.