I was delighted to watch the Tour de France have a sensational and stunning end in Paris yesterday. The organisers have finally got the final stage on the Champs-Elysees right, partly down to the success of the Paris Olympic Games. Gone are the days of the processional sprint down the famous avenue, where you could bet top dollar that the likes of Peter Sagan, Marcel Kittel, Ireland’s Sam Bennett or the legendary Mark Cavendish would take the sprint, before the overall winner, with teammates arm in arm, celebrated winning the Tour de France. Those days are as dead as the dodo now, due to how the Tour innovated after the success of Remco Evenepoel’s victory in the Olympic Road Race, and the wonderful inclusion of the Montmarte climb just beside the Moulin Rouge. That climb now means that at least the Tour ends with a flourish; the generational talents getting one last chance to win a stage in the most famous bike race in the world, in what is essentially a glorified free-for-all. But the road to Paris this year, and in the last three years, has been largely a procession in itself, because the greatest rider ever cannot be beaten.
Tadej Pogacar is a modern day miracle. He’s not only able to win Grand Tours, but he’s also able to win the big one day races. This hasn’t been seen in professional cycling for a long time; not since the days of Merckx in days long gone has a rider been able to compete on all fronts, and his dominance has just saw him claim a fifth Tour de France title, and his third in a row. This year, he faced no real competition and the race for victory was virtually decided within the first week. This follows a very strict routine; Pogacar will attack in the high mountains and nobody is physically able to follow. There’s been no wiggle room for this routine since 2023, the last time Pogacar actually lost the race, to his long-time rival Jonas Vingegaard. Vingegaard hasn’t been the same since a near death crash in 2024, and ever since then, cycling’s modern day Hercules has blitzed the race.
Is this good for the sport? Yes and no. You can argue that it’s good based on the pure spectacle of watching a great at work, similar to how we all fawned over the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in their primes, or how we marvel at the magnificence of Jannik Sinner in the world of tennis today. Truth be told, you cannot sit back and not admire someone who is leagues above the rest, and some of the excitement in watching Tadej Pogacar race is when you feel the euphoria when he can actually lose, or when he does lose. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you know someone’s ridden their socks off to beat him.
On the other hand, someone being too good in their field does discourage viewers to watch because they feel they simply know the outcome. Everything seems predictable. It is the inevitable talking point and it cannot be avoided. Races become stale and boring if one man goes up the road and puts minutes into his opponents. On some occasions, it just isn’t fun. It does get old after a while, but that’s a tightrope the best of the best must manage; between wanting to entertain or just wanting to win.
Either way, watching the greats is a privilege, and I sincerely hope that Tadej Pogacar continues to race and win in the world of professional cycling for years to come. Regardless of your opinion on him, he brings the best out in his competitors, and although this is a very hard thing to say in the present moment, when he retires, and the rest of his generation hang up the helmet, the sport will hurt until the next super talented generation come along. This sport, however niche, is in a definite golden age; like it or not, the rise of Tadej Pogacar has contributed to most of it, and we should all enjoy his, and others’ successes for as long as they last.
Luke Watson
