On Saturday, Tadej Pogačar claimed his fifth stage victory at the 2024 Tour de France, which also marked his 16th career win. The final road stage of the 2024 Tour de France in the Alps served as the second-to-last stage of the 111th edition. Prior to this achievement, Pogačar had already set a record for the most days in Grand Tour leader jerseys in a single season, totaling 38 days.
Throughout the 111th edition, the Slovenian relinquished the yellow jersey for just two days. Although the day before he was cagey, it seems, saying he would let the break win, that changed when he charged ahead with Jonas Vingegaard and caught Richard Carapaz with one kilometre remaining. He then led out the Dane, and for a second it looked like he may gift the stage to the defending champion. But there are no cadeaux at the Tour, and Pogi launched in the final metres and easily took the win.
Stage 4 and Matteo Jorgenson
With his ride at the 2024 Tour, many are comparing him to arguably one of the greatest cyclists of all time, Eddy Merckx. Pogi’s dominance from the start of the race to the end, with an insatiable appetite for wins, has many making that comparison. After his fourth stage win the day before, which meant catching American Matteo Jorgenson with just 2 km to go, denying him a win, some asked about his hunger. “A cannibal? He eats human flesh though,” he joked to Sporza. “I eat sweets at the finish and gels and bars on the bike. But let’s not talk about cannibalism. That’s not so nice.”
Lance Armstrong on Pogačar: ‘I would advise him to keep a low profile’
Merckx remains unparalleled in cycling history with his record 525 professional victories. Although his all-time Tour stage win record was recently broken by Mark Cavendish, his dominance spanned the 1960s and 1970s, winning every major race, including five Tour de France titles and multiple Giro d’Italia and World Championship victories.
The Team UAE – Emirates went on to joke that his win was all about math. “With my fourth stage win, I’ve already balanced things out from last year when I got two. So now I am able to say I have three stage wins every year,” Pogačar added.
Despite him saying that he would chill in the lead group and perhaps let an escape win, that changed in the finale. His teammates worked hard to bring in the break, ultimately leading to an incredible finale on the Isola climb, one with which he was very familiar.
“I was there training a lot after…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…