2026 Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar paid tribute to his family and friends in appreciation for their support in conquering cycling's biggest bike race five times.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader concluded the race with a final margin of 6 minutes, 26 seconds over Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and 9:42 on his teammate Isaac del Toro, winning five stages in the process.
Watched by partner Urška Žigart and his parents from the sidelines on the Champs-Élysées, along with his UAE teammates, rivals and fans, Pogačar let out a huge roar of delight as he received the final yellow jersey of the 2026 race.
Then after he and the two other top podium finishers had removed their headgear to listen to the Slovenian national anthem, Pogačar made the fifth Tour de France victory speech of his career.
The UAE leader began by explaining that he had been hoping to talk in French for the first time from the Paris podium, but then revealed that he had become "too sick to remember it". His only words in French on Sunday evening were, therefore, 'bon soir' before adding in English that he would just "go with the flow".
"Thank you to all the fans, to all of France, who host this great race, and thank you to my competitors for making a great show, we fought a lot for these last three weeks," Pogačar said.
What he didn't mention was that the 21st and final day was not a formality in Paris. Rather, he kept the sparks firing with multiple attacks on Côte de la Butte Montmartre, even pulling away with stage winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) as the two built a 12-second lead with 4.5km to go and looked set for a world champion showdown on the Champs-Élysées.
The suspense ended for the yellow jersey as Pogačar ran out of steam with a few hundred metres to go, rolling back to join his teammates and start a slow-motion celebration instead. Van der Poel was left to charge to the stage victory.
A surprise for many fans was seeing US rider Brandon McNulty in T-shirt and shorts with his UAE teammates. He abandoned the Tour on stage 18 due to illness, but remained in France to support Pogačar and his team.
"Thank you to Remco and Isaac, to all the participants, to all support from the fans, my team, my teammates, thank you all - you are the best."
However, Pogačar then underlined that he had his biggest feelings of gratefulness to his family and people close to him, as he put it, "the people who really support me all my life, Urška and my parents".
"Without them, I would not be standing here five times already, so thank you everyone… and let's party tonight."
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