He had just won the individual time trial on Saturday and raised his fists again at the Champs Elysées, in the final stage of a Tour de France dominated with an iron fist by the young Tadej Pogacar. The Belgian Wout van Aert was the fastest to reach the sprint after the classic circuit on the Boulevard de Paris, the final point of a partial 108-kilometer route starting in Chatou. The Jumbo-Visma team’s all-terrain rider was the fastest and collapsed the plans of Mark Cavendish, who finished third when everyone expected him to break the absolute record of stage victories in the Tour still held by the legendary Eddy Merckx . The British sprinter, who has climbed the podium four times in this edition of the gala round, will have to wait to overcome the 34 victories that both he and Merckx have accumulated in their record. He is 36 years old and, after overcoming a depression, will maintain the desire to go down in cycling history.
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