Tadej Pogačar rolled into Paris on Sunday to claim his fifth Tour de France title, joining Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the only riders in the race's history to win it five times.

The 27-year-old Slovenian, riding for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, becomes the youngest of that group to reach five titles. Lance Armstrong's seven victories remain stripped from the record books following his doping conviction, leaving the quintet as cycling's recognised benchmark.

Pogačar had the race won well before the final stage, finishing 6 minutes 26 seconds clear of Belgium's Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in the general classification, with Mexico's Isaac del Toro completing the podium in third. According to ONE, he had shown superiority across every discipline of the three-week race, from the high mountains to the time trials and the flat stages, mixing raw strength with sharp tactical judgement.

The final stage itself, though largely ceremonial for the yellow jersey, was anything but processional. Organisers shortened stage 21 to 88.7km after police normally assigned to the Paris route were redeployed to fight wildfires in the south of France, reshaping the finale into three laps of a circuit built around the cobbled Butte Montmartre before the traditional finish on the Champs-Élysées.

Repeated attacks on the Montmartre climb turned the run-in into one of the most chaotic closing stages in years. Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands, riding for Alpecin-Premier Tech, attacked alongside Pogačar on the final ascent, helped force a frantic chase in the closing kilometres, and still had the legs to win the sprint on the Champs-Élysées ahead of Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen.

Isaac del Toro's third place is itself a landmark: at 22, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider became the first Mexican ever to stand on the Tour de France podium, and he also secured the white jersey as best young rider. He credited his team leader for helping shepherd him through a gruelling final week, saying Pogačar had shown what a good friend he was as the Slovenian shifted into a protective role once his own title was secure.

France's Paul Seixas, only 19, finished fourth on his Tour debut, the youngest rider to start the race since 1937 and the best-placed Frenchman in the general classification. He had been within 24 seconds of the final podium spot before losing time on the brutal Alpe d'Huez stage.

Mads Pedersen sealed the points classification's green jersey, while Ecuador's Richard Carapaz took the polka dot jersey as king of the mountains, rounding out a jersey sweep that had effectively been settled before the Paris stage.

The race was also marked by the shock departure of two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard, who crashed heavily on stage 15 near Plateau de Solaison, fracturing his collarbone in a pile-up that also involved several of his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates and briefly caught up del Toro. It was the first time in six Tour appearances that the Dane failed to finish.

"Maybe at the beginning we didn't have the best relationship, but in the last two years, we became good rivals, respected rivals," Pogačar said of Vingegaard afterwards, reflecting on a rivalry that has defined the Tour for the past several editions.

Asked about the race that so nearly slipped away at various points, Pogačar summed up the unpredictability that still haunts even a dominant champion: "It's the Tour, three weeks, a lot of s*** can happen."

He also hinted, not for the first time, that his run of dominance will not last forever. "I definitely will not be doing this for too much long time, I think," he said, though few in the sport are taking that as a firm timeline given his current form.

The victory also extended Pogačar's stage-win tally at this year's race to five, taking his career total to 26 Tour de France stage wins, fourth on the all-time list, as he cements his place among the sport's true greats.