Pogacar wins Tour de France for third time

NICE, France -- Tadej Pogacar won the Tour de France for the third time and celebrated in style with a victory in Sunday's final stage -- a time trial ending in Nice.

The 25-year-old Slovenian rider became the first cyclist to secure the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in the same year since the late Marco Pantani in 1998.

Two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark was second overall. He also finished the stage in second place.

Pogacar won the 34-kilometer (21-mile) time trial on the French Riviera's roads from Monaco to Nice in 45 minutes, 24 seconds. Vingegaard was 1 minute, 3 seconds behind him and Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel 1:14 back in third spot.

In the overall standings, Vingegaard finished 6:17 behind Pogacar and Evenepoel was third overall, 9:18 behind Pogacar -- whose other Tour wins came in 2020 and 2021.

The race did not finish in Paris as it usually does because of the Olympic Games.