Tour de France: Standings at the 2021 race

Arm in arm with his UAE Team Emirates teammates, whose jerseys had been customised with a yellow strip across its front, Tadej Pogačar rode into Paris as the winner of the 2021 Tour de France. Conforming to the long tradition of a largely-neutralised final stage, there was no change in the overall standings.

In the end, the final general classification was separated by crater-like time gaps as Pogačar blew the race apart on multiple occasions. For the first time since Bradley Wiggins’ victory in 2012 only those on the podium finished within 10 minutes of the yellow jersey, while, for the first time ever, each rider in the top 14 represented a different team.

Second placed Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) emerged as the closest challenger to Pogačar after Jumbo-Visma's leader Primoz Roglič crashed out in the first week of the race. He finished his first Tour de France 5:20 behind the yellow jersey.

Richard Carapaz, meanwhile, emerged as the strongest rider from an Ineos Grenadiers team stacked with three Grand Tour winners, but who could only muster a third-place overall at 7:03.

Expectations often dictate the significance of achievements; for Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën Team) a fourth place overall at 10:02 back, as well as an impressive stage win at Tignes, marked a career-defining achievement, and a result that justified the faith that his team demonstrated by offering him a four-year contract.

For Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohë), too, a fifth place at 10:13 signified his best result in the Tour de France. A minute and thirty seconds behind Kelderman, Enric Mas (Movistar Team) backed up his fifth place finish last year with a sixth place at 11:43.

Seventh place was occupied by Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech) who metamorphosised from a stage chaser into a GC contender to finish 12:23 behind Pogačar. A perennial GC contender who finally fulfilled his potential by achieving a top-10 placing at the Tour de France was Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), this year’s best placed Frenchman, in eighth at 15:33.

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) in ninth and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Nippo) in 10th completed the remaining spots on the first page of the general classification, 16:04 and 18:34, respectively, behind Pogačar.