Tour de France stage 21: Tadej Pogačar claims fourth overall victory as Wout van Aert solos to victory over new Montmartre climb in Paris finale

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) lit up the final stage of the 2025 Tour de France to cap off a near-perfect race and claim his fourth overall title. With four stage wins and another yellow jersey, the world champion moved equal with Chris Froome on four Tour wins, only behind the four all-time greats who have five titles in the all-time list.

The yellow jersey finished fourth on a thrilling final stage 21 to the Champs-Élysées in the rain, getting dropped by Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) 6.4km from the finish after attacking several times, as the Belgian rode solo to a memorable victory. He celebrated over the line 19 seconds later after missing out on one final mic drop.

Despite the race organiser ASO's hopes of more GC action unfolding on the final day, pouring rain in Paris meant that times for the overall had to be taken after four passages of the finish line on the Champs-Élysées due to safety concerns. The final 50.3km and all three laps up to Montmartre were taken on with no effect on the general classification, but with serious action.

With the risk reduced, the modified finale in Paris and the inclusion of the climb to Montmartre on stage 21 did, however, bring Pogačar into play in the final attacking 50km, with the yellow jersey animating what was an exhilarating finale to a brutally difficult edition of the Tour.

Pogačar showed his intentions on the first rep up the ascent towards the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, chasing down a move from Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) and ensuring he was in the front group that led through the fifth passage of the finish.

Over the second, he kicked on to create a leading group of six over the top, which would play out the final lap and fight for the stage honours: Matteo Jorgenson, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana), Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) and Matteo Trentin (Tudor).

But on the third, his final seated attack on the cobbled 1.1km ascent was matched by one man – Van Aert – who landed a killer counterpunch 350 metres from the crest of the climb to scorch away to the victory.

"In the end, it was a nice race, great from the organisers to neutralise the GC times so nobody had to risk anything, and it was quite fair play in the end," said overall winner Pogačar.

"I gave it a go because I was in the front, but Wout was incredibly strong today. He did an amazing attack on the top of the climb, and he deserved this big, big win.

"In the end, I'm super happy that it's over, but I must say that I really enjoyed the whole Tour. For sure, I will maybe already miss it next week, but it was a pleasure to be here, wear this yellow jersey, ride with my teammates, and ride against all the opponents. It was a great, great Tour."

Finally, Van Aert, after a Tour well away from his best, one of the modern greats of Tour de France stage hunting, fought his way to a second victory on 'the world's most beautiful boulevard' for his 10th career Tour stage win, and one of the absolute best of his career.

"I agree, it was a special day out, and a really special one to win here on the Champs-Élysées once again, of course, on the first occasion where we also climbed the Montmartre," said Van Aert

"The rain made it quite sketchy, but I managed to stay upright and had full support from my teammate. I really have to thank them for keeping believing in me and for trying over and over again, even today, they were still there to support me, so without them, I couldn't control this race and go to the last climb, leave it all out there, which was the plan.

"To be honest, I also wanted the 20 stages before today, but I came close a few times, but also was quite far off on several occasions. Even yesterday, I didn't feel good enough to make the breakaway, so the hardest thing for me was to keep the belief, but because the people around me kept believing, I was able to do it.

"I have to say we came to this tour with the ambition to win the yellow jersey, but the strongest rider in the race and the biggest cyclist in the world won it. Tadej Pogačar was the strongest, we tried to give him competition, and I'm proud of how we raced as a team, how we kept trying every day, but for sure, we don't go home without prizes. We should be proud."

How it unfolded

While the finale on stage 21 on the Tour de France was set to be different due to the inclusion of the Montmartre climb, the final day to Paris started in its typical fashion, with the team of the winner Tadej Pogačar – UAE Team Emirates-XRG – starting things off the front.

Pogačar and his teammates led everyone away, with the world champion aboard a yellow Colnago Y1RS frame for the big day, and his teammates all having yellow details added to their kits and equipment.

All of the Tour's Australians brought up the rear for a picture together, while the Italian's did similarly towards the front, and it was the true calm before the storm before the race finally reached Paris after what had been a brutal edition.

After just about every team and nation had taken the photograph they wanted to celebrate reaching the Tour's finale, UAE started pacing on the front to bring the race east, towards Paris.

With 75km to go, and an hour and a half of casual racing into France's capital city, the riders met the cobbles and had a first look at the circuit in Paris, which would take them into Montmartre and all the way to the Champs-Élysées finish.

The first attacks came with 69.5km to go, with Alexis Renard (Cofidis) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) among the early accelerators on the first lap of the Champs-Élysées.

Sights like the Musée de Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe were passed as the flyover from La Patrouille de France brought the tricolore to life above the 'world's most beautiful avenue', but the riders had no chance to sneak a look with the action kicking off fully.

A mid-stage announcement did mean that, due to the rainy weather, the GC times would be taken after the completion of the fourth lap in Paris, meaning all three laps of the climb to Montmartre and the final 50.3km would be raced without any implications on the overall.

Attacks continued to be launched prior to Montmartre's introduction, with even podium-sitter Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) going off the front in a move with Simmons. Others suffered behind with punctures, as the rough cobbled roads took their toll.

As the raging peloton approached the first ascent of the 1.1km climb, which averages 5.9%, Lipowitz and Simmons were brought back by an Alpecin-Deceuninck-led peloton. Onto new roads, and Tudor took over to set an infernal pace ahead of the climb's beginning.

The raging crowds were in their thousands on the narrow roads of the climb, with sport's best-ever arena showing itself once again at the Tour de France as they passed the Moulin Rouge and entered the cobbled ascent.

Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) exploded into life on the climb, to the delight of the fans, with Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) following him and even race leader Pogačar deciding to follow with 40km remaining on the final day.

Pogačar chased across with Wout van Aert, showing clear intentions that he wanted to play a part in the final. Past the Sacré-Cœur Basilica and onto the descent back to the circuit, and only a select few had made it into the leading group.

Things came back together to form a group of around 25 riders in front as they approached the fifth passage of the finish, but the grey clouds had returned, and the heavens opened, with rain pouring onto the cobbles with two full laps remaining.

A group of 28 led into the second ascent of the Montmartre climb: Pogačar, Alaphilippe, Matteo Trentin (Tudor), Wout van Aert, Victory Campenaerts, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Matej Mohorič, Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious), Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ), Kaden Groves (Alpecin Decueninck), Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Alex Aranburu, Dylan Teuns (Cofidis), Bastien Tronchon, Aurelien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Davide Ballerni, Clément Champoussin, Mike Teunissen (XDS Astana), Pavel Bittner, Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL), De Lie, Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility).

Campenarts led out Jorgenson on the front, with Pogačar moving up and looking ominous. Van Aert had to move up to get to his teammates, but before he could get there, the yellow jersey accelerated, with only the strongest riders following him.

Over the top, Ballerini, Jorgenson, Van Aert and Trentin were the only survivors from Pogačar's seated push, with 22km remaining on the wet cobbles. Mohorič soon joined them to make it six in front, which is no surprise given his expertise going downhill.

The speeds were still rapid as the six men in front descended away from the north of the city towards the finish line, where they would be taking the bell after almost three hours of racing. A chase group only went backwards, with the six in front taking a 40-second advantage into the foot of the final ascent.

Jorgenson launched the first bid for glory in the finale as Visma tried to use their numbers to their advantage, but Mohorič marked it quickly 10km from the finish, with the climb and descent to the Champs-Élysées going to decide things.

The American tried again as Van Aert let his wheel go 1.5 kilometres before the foot of the final climb, but again Mohorič and Pogačar were on it to chase things down. A third move was marked by Trentin, and they eventually reached the climb as a six.

Pogačar led things with Van Aert on his wheel, exploding into life past the cheers, but his seated drive was not yet dropping his rivals. Mohorič was the first victim, then Trentin and Jorgenson, and we were down to three as Van Aert countered.

The Belgian launched 300 metres from the crest and put Pogačar on a gap with a huge counter punch. The crowds were overjoyed, but the race was not over, with 6.2km still to race on stage 21.

Six seconds was all he had over the crest, with a wet, slippery downhill run separating him from a second win on the Champs-Élysées. But it soon became apparent that it was going to become the fairytale ending for Van Aert.

Pogačar's charge ended, and he fell back to the other chasers, crossing the line fourth with a raised arm in celebration over the line. He had a lot of duties still to complete from the podium to the winner's press conference, but he shared a moment with his partner and women's pro Urška Žigart past the finish, ahead of his fourth trip to the top step of the Tour's overall podium.

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