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sports Monday 21 SepteMber 2020
Tadej Pogacar wins COVID-defying Tour de France

By JOHN LEICESTER picking up the most points numbers soared across the side when they zoomed Tour somewhat race-rusty
AP Sports Writer in sprints during and at the country. through her region in cen- but with the pent-up ener-
PARIS (AP) — In a stunning finish of stages. The director, Christian Prud- tral France. The postpone- gy of caged hounds, their
performance for the ages, With jets trailing plumes of homme, was back after ment this year to Septem- disrupted seasons reconfig-
Tour de France rookie Tadej red, white and blue smoke a week of self-isolation. ber, with her back in Paris ured to make them peak
Pogacar won cycling's physically on cycling's big-
showpiece race Sunday on gest stage.
the eve of his 22nd birth- After a slow-burn start, with
day, becoming the sec- multiple crashes, the racing
ond-youngest winner of the became increasingly furi-
117-year-old event that this ous.
year braved — and over- Roglic, the winner of last
came — France's worsen- year's Spanish Vuelta and
ing coronavirus epidemic. a pre-Tour favorite, was
With a yellow face mask backed by a powerful
to match the race win- Jumbo-Visma team of star
ner's yellow jersey, Poga- riders devoted to putting
car stood atop the podium him in yellow — achieved
backlit by the pink hues on Stage 9 — and then
of dusk, transformed from keeping the prized jersey
promising prodigy into cy- until Paris.
cling superstar, the young- But UAE Team Emirates rider
est winner since World War Pogacar hadn't read their
II and the first from Slovenia. script.
While the mask hid his He first demolished Roglic's
smiles, the creases around 57-second lead and then
his eyes gave them away. built his own Tour-winning
"This is just the top of the margin of 59 seconds in the
top," he said. "It's been an time trial, an astounding re-
amazing three-week ad- versal of fortunes.
venture." The birth of the Pogacar su-
His victory was remark- pernova is now set to ripple
able, too, for the way in across the cycling galaxy
which he sealed it: at the Tour de France winner Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, cel- for years to come. His future
ebrates on the podium with the Slovenian flag after the twenty-first and last stage of the Tour de
last possible moment, on France cycling race over 122 kilometers (75.8 miles), from Mantes-la-Jolie to Paris, France, Sun- rivals are unlikely to repeat
the penultimate stage be- day, Sept. 20, 2020. Jumbo-Visma's mistake of
fore Sunday's finish on Paris' Associated Press allowing him to ride his way
Champs-Elysees. During back into contention, as
the cycling marathon over he did after losing time in
all five of France's mountain above the riders as they Wearing a mask, he sig- for studies, allowed her to crosswinds in the first week,
ranges and 3,482 punishing raced through Paris, on the naled the start of Sunday's soak in the finish for the first when he slumped from
kilometers (2,164 miles), Po- Champs-Elysees lined with stage at Mantes-La-Jolie time. third to 16th.
gacar held the race lead French tricolor flags, the west of Paris with a wave of "It's important to have By conquering the Tour on
and the iconic yellow jer- Tour was also celebrating a his flag through the sunroof events like this that are di- his first attempt, Pogacar
sey for just one stage — the victory — over the corona- of his car. verting. People needed joined an elite club of rook-
last and most important virus. Mask-wearing spectators the Tour after a year like ie winners that includes,
one into Paris, with a yellow When the Tour, delayed waiting for the rumble of this," she said. among others, the great
bike to match. because of the epidemic the riders' arrival on the One of the pandemic- Eddy Merckx, who ended
Pogacar KO'd the race from its usual spot in July, handlebar-shaking cob- defying Tour's most enthu- up winning five.
and Slovenian countryman left the start town of Nice bles of the Champs-Elysees siastic backers was also its Pogacar unseated Egan
Primoz Roglic by snatching three weeks ago, it was said holding the Tour had lit most powerful: French Pres- Bernal, who was 22 when
away the jersey that he'd unsure that enough riders up a dark year and dem- ident Emmanuel Macron. he won last year, as the
worn for 11 days, in a high- would be able to stay virus- onstrated that the corona- With his government trying Tour's youngest champion
drama time trial Saturday. free for the race to reach virus need not bring all life to revive France's COVID- since World War II. And he
Their 1-2 is the first for one Paris. to a grinding halt, if health battered economy, Ma- become the race's sec-
country since British riders But none of the 176 starters, measures are respected. cron praised the race as ond-youngest winner ever,
Bradley Wiggins and Chris or 146 finishers, tested posi- The famous boulevard "the pride of the country" behind only Henri Cornet,
Froome also took the top tive in multiple batteries of lacked its usual fervor, a and an example of how it who was just shy of 20 when
spots at the 2012 Tour. tests, validating the her- victim of the virus, with the must learn to live with the he was crowned in 1904.q
Australian Richie Porte metic bubble of measures usually rows-deep crowds virus and the restrictions it
rounded out this year's po- to shield them from infec- limited to a socially dis- imposes.
dium, at age 35, after his tion. tanced maximum of 5,000 "Even in September, the
brilliant time trial that hoist- Roadside fans still cheered people, clumped in pens Tour de France is magic!"
ed him from fourth to third them on, mostly respecting by police and barriers. Macron tweeted Saturday
overall. riders' pleas that they wear But Pauline Bourbonnaud, after Pogacar crushed Ro-
Irish rider Sam Bennett won face masks, but were kept a 22-year-old podiatry stu- glic in the time trial.
the prestigious final sprint well away at stage starts dent, said it was nothing Largely deprived of rac-
on the Champs-Elysees, and finishes. short of "an exploit, enor- ing as the epidemic tore
giving him his second stage The only COVID-19 positives mous" that the Tour nego- across the globe, and with
win at this Tour. touched a handful of team tiated the epidemic with those in lockdown only
He also won the race's employees and the race riders unscathed. At previ- able to keep fit on home
green jersey, awarded for director, even as infection ous Tours, she'd been road- trainers, riders arrived at the