Cycling star Tadej Pogacar confidently won the Tour de Suisse with another demonstration of power on the queen stage, completing a successful endurance test two weeks before the start of the Tour of France. The Slovenian world champion celebrated his third victory of the day on the fifth and final stage.
After 150.7 kilometers with start and finish in Villars-sur-Ollon, Pogacar single-handedly won the mountain finish ahead of the Frenchman Lenny Martinez and the Dutchman Bart Lemmen. The 27-year-old thus finished the tour with a lead of 6:32 minutes over Tokyo Olympic champion Richard Carapaz (Ecuador) in the overall ranking.
Outlier Martinez is 900 meters short
Before the final climb, Pogacar was over two minutes behind a breakaway group before the Slovenian pushed up the pace. 900 meters from the finish, Pogacar finally caught up with the leader Martinez.
Pogacar, who has only completed 16 racing days so far this year, now has 13 wins this season. At the Tour, with a fifth overall victory, he could catch up with record winners Eddy Merckx (Belgium), Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault (both France) and Miguel Indurain (Spain).
