The domestique's fifth

Pogačar seals his fifth Tour de France, Carapaz leaves with two stages and the polka-dot jersey, while debate grows over safety and the crowds on the climbs

The Tour wears you down, demands everything of you and puts you through an emotional catharsis in just 21 days. You arrive as one person and leave as another.

Last year’s Tour, for instance, left us with one clear conclusion after seeing how drained Pogačar was by the end of the race: he didn't have many Tours left in him. This year, after passing up stages he could easily have won at Plateau du Salaison or again today on the second ascent of Alpe d’Huez, we’ve learnt something else. Not only does he know his reign won’t last forever, he also seems determined for his friend Isaac del Toro to inherit the throne. I wouldn’t wish that burden on my worst enemy.

A.S.O./Thomas Maheux

Perhaps it’s the accumulation of epic efforts and historic challenges. Perhaps it’s the fatigue of starting his career so young, or simply the exhaustion of living under constant suspicion, reinforced by the warning the ITA appeared to send with its overnight control. Whatever the reason, two facts define Tadej Pogačar and, by extension, this era.

The first is that, at just 27 years of age, the Slovenian will win his fifth Tour de France, joining Merckx, Hinault, Anquetil and Indurain... who, incidentally, won his first Tour at exactly the same age.

The second statistic must surely be unprecedented too, although the archives are closed at this hour to check. The leader of the Tour de France spent more than 60 kilometres riding like a domestique, controlling the breakaway, the favourites’ group and shepherding his teammate Del Toro towards his first Tour podium and the white jersey, to go with the stage Pogačar had already handed him in Barcelona. That’s the level of superiority we’re talking about.

That insatiable rider is gradually becoming satisfied by milestones alone, and it increasingly feels like a matter of time before he completes cycling. The Vuelta. Itzulia. Paris-Roubaix. In the meantime, the achievements keep piling up as he takes his place among the sport’s immortals after a Tour de France in which nobody came remotely close to his level.

It has been a Tour full of memorable moments on the fringes of the race, with a few on centre stage as well. Evenepoel’s consistency in the best Grand Tour of his career. Seixas’ remarkable maturity at just 19 years old. And the extraordinary entertainment provided by Pedersen and Carapaz, who seemed determined to breathe life into the race every single day through the battle for the secondary jerseys.