Tadej Pogacar admitted winning a fifth Tour de France was beyond his wildest dreams after his record-equalling victory in Paris on Sunday.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider sealed a fifth title to join legends Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain in the realm of the Tour’s most successful cyclists.
“Victory is really special,” said the 27-year-old Pogacar. “Thank you to all the fans and my team.
"But the biggest thanks goes to all my family who support me all my life. My parents – without them I would not be standing here five times already.
“Seven Tours and seven times on the podium, and five wins, is something you wouldn't even maybe write in a story book, and it's unbelievable for me.
“It's a magnificent podium with some incredible champions to fight with. It's a shame Jonas [Vingegaard] crashed out this time and many others. I hope they have a quick recovery and next year we fight again.”
Pogacar's achievements have already seen him hailed as the greatest cyclist of the modern era. Merckx is generally cited as the greatest of all time because of his wide range of accolades, however, the Belgian, now 81, says it is a certainty that the Slovenian will go clear of him and the other greats with a sixth Tour title in the near future.
“I don’t think he’ll be content just to draw level with me and the other champions,” said Merckx. “He’ll soon break our record for Tour victories.”
Sunday's final stage turned out to be a thriller as Mathieu van der Poel took his second stage win on the Champs-Elysees, seeing off the pursuing pack of sprinters after breaking clear alongside Pogacar on the final climb of the Butte de Montmartre.
Dutchman Van der Poel, 31, also paid tribute to “best rider in the world” Pogacar after his stage win.
“A year I was thinking about this, when I was sick last year and I had to watch this stage on television, I was already thinking about this moment,” he said. “And then the way it went, well it’s a dream.
“It was super hard and I was with the best rider in the world, that’s my respect for Tadej, and I thought we would get pulled back.
“But then I was thinking about this moment, I just put my head down in the last 500m and went as hard as I could. I was waiting for a wheel to come past and it didn’t.
“At the very end I see [Philipsen] next to me and it shows we never give up. The start of Tour wasn’t very good, but one and two on the Champs-Elysees, that’s pretty good.”
