Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, the unexpected winner of the 2020 Tour de France, sealed his victory when he won a dramatic Stage 20 time trial.
He then climbed to the top step of the podium as the champion in Paris on Sunday—the eve of his 22nd birthday. Countryman Primož Roglič finished second, losing the yellow jersey in the Stage 20 time trial, and Richie Porte took third.
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Here are some of the elements that led to the 21-year-old’s success in the 2020 Tour:
Lifetime passion
“I started watching the Tour de France back in 2009 or 2010, following Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck, spending all day in front of television and then going riding myself,” the Ljubljana native said on Saturday, after pulling off one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the history of cycling’s most famous event.
Youngest winner in more than a century
In 1904 Frenchman Henri Cornet won the Tour de France at the age of 19, and remains the youngest ever winner of the race. Pogačar, born on September 21, 1998, becomes the second-youngest champion at the age of 21.
Track record
Pogačar only joined the elite level of cycling last year and was thrown in at the deep end when UAE Emirates decided he could race a Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España. He won three stages on the Vuelta and ended an impressive third place behind Roglič and Alejandro Valverde. As with the Tour de France in 2020, he won three stages in Spain and took the best overall young rider's jersey.
Previous time-trial win over Roglic
Pogačar's staggering win over his compatriot Roglič on stage 20 of the Tour was not a complete surprise. Earlier in the season the Slovenian national time-trial championships were raced over a similar course, with the climb first and the rolling section afterwards however. Pogačar changed bikes while Roglič did not, with the younger man taking victory over the much shorter course by a slender nine seconds at the finish line.
