BFA Senior League

Tour de France
Tour de France
Tour de France
Carapaz claims Stage 18 win as Pogacar stays in yellow after team-mate blow
Completed
Tour de France

Stage 21 | Flat

Flat
Thoiry → Paris / 88.7 km
Finished
1
M. van der Poel
trophy
1:58:49
2
J. Philipsen
+0
3
M. Pedersen
+0
Follow live
Live Commentary
19:38
Quote
ROBBIE MCEWEN: NAME A BETTER COUPLE THAN TADEJ AND MATHIEU
"It was absolutely brilliant. Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel - name me a better couple. Without Tadej, this didn't happen, but the way they constructed their race to not just wait for the last time but set it up the time before, make everybody tired then, but they know they can go again and to hang on like this... you've got to say again unselfish by Tadej.
"He said, 'I'm going to take the final turn, I'm not going to get cagey, but Mathieu had that last acceleration with the final 10-12 pedal strikes out of the saddle... I was hurting in the same muscles watching thinking he's about to get a cramp. Every sinew and you don't get much better drama than that.
19:37
Podium
TOP TEN IN PARIS
1. Mathieu Van Der Poe 1'58'49''
2. Jasper Philipsen
3. Mads Pedersen
4. Max Kanter
5. Olav Kooij
6. Matej Mohoric
7. Rick Pluimers
8. Anthony Turgis
9. Milan Fretin
10. Clement Russo
19:30
Camera
WATCH: VAN DER POEL REFLECTS ON 'DREAM' PARIS WIN THAT CAME TRUE AFTER YEAR OF PLANNING
picture

Van der Poel reflects on 'dream' Paris win that came true after a year of planning

Video credit: TNT Sports


19:27
Quote
MATHIEU VAN DER POEL: I JUST WENT AS HARD AS I COULD
A year I was thinking about this. When I was sick last year and I had to watch the stage on television, I was already thinking about this moment. The way it went, it's a dream. It's incredible. It was super hard, and to be up there with the best rider in the world, all my respect for Tadej. I thought we were going to get caught back, then I was just thinking about this moment.
I put my head down in the last five hundred metres. I just went as hard as I could. I was waiting until a wheel was coming. It didn't happen, didn't happen, and in the very end I see a Pirelli tire next to me and it's Jasper's. It shows we never give up. Maybe the start of our Tour was not good but I won the Champs Elysees, so pretty good. I'm super happy. I have a few races I still wanted to win in my career and this was one of them.
19:19
Jersey - Yellow
THERE'S A NEW MEMBER OF THE FIVE TOURS CLUB
Tadej Pogacar
Miguel Indurain
Bernard Hinault
Eddy Merckx
Jacques Anquetil
And only one of them might make it six.
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