PARIS, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The Tour de France ended its three-week circuit of the country on Sunday with a 33.7-kilometer time trial between Monaco and Nice rather than the traditional sprint finish in Paris and with Tadej Pogacar winning the last stage by more than a minute over Jonas Vingegaard.
It was the Slovenian's sixth stage win of the Tour as he hammered home his dominance, finishing six minutes and 17 seconds ahead of Vingegaard in the overall standings and 9:18 ahead of Belgian Remco Evenepoel in third place.
The Tour finished in Nice and not Paris because of the preparations for the Olympic Games, which start on Friday. Attention will now turn to the Games, with the men's time trial on July 27th and the road race on August 3rd.
So what can the Tour de France tell us about the medal favorites in Paris?
Well for a start, Pogacar is the clear favorite for the men's road race as he ended the Tour in devastating form, winning the last three stages - including two brutal days in the Alps, riding away from the rest of the field with frightening ease, despite the best efforts of Vingegaard.
Vingegaard won't be in Paris after being left out of the Danish squad because of fitness doubts following the dreadful fall in the Itzulia (Tour of the Basque Country) cycle race in April. The Dane was visibly frustrated at his inability to follow Pogacar, but the reality is that second place in the Tour barely three months after suffering a broken collarbone and ribs, as well as pulmonary contusion and a pneumothorax that saw him spend 12 days in hospital, is little short of superhuman.
His second place overall and in the time trial show that he would have been a medal contender in both races.
Evenepoel was third on the last stage, with the World time-trial champion finishing 1:14 behind Pogacar, but it is a very different time-trial in Paris - especially as Pogacar is focusing on the road race, with Jan Tratnik representing Slovenia.
Sunday's last stage of the Tour saw the riders negotiate a second category climb, which favored Vingegaard and Pogacar, but it's a pan-flat 32.4 kilometers at the Games, with no hills, and that should suit Evenepoel, who is arguably the best rider technically in the event.
One surprise on Sunday was to see Evenepoel's fellow countryman Wout van Aert finish 8:14 down the field, but the Belgian rider, who also fractured his collarbone and several ribs in a fall at the end of March, looked to have taken his foot off the gas.
Although he was not at his best for the three weeks of the Tour, Van Aert looked stronger as the race progressed, popping up in breakaways and we can expect him to challenge in both races in Paris as he looks to improve on the silver he won in Tokyo.
World road race champion Mathieu van der Poel rode as a super-domestique for Jasper Philipsen in the Tour, and maybe hasn't burned as much energy as Pogacar and Evenepoel in the Tour.
Van der Poel's ability to ride away from a bunch in long-distance one-day races means his medal chances have to be taken seriously, while it will remain to be seen how a dose of COVID-19 has affected Tom Pidcock.
The British rider was forced out of the Tour with COVID and could be fresher than his rivals, if the virus hasn't taken too much out of his legs.
In short, the Tour has shown us that in the road race Pogacar is very much the man to beat, although he will need teammates to chase down breakaways in the Games, while Evenepoel is the favorite in the time trial, although a specialist Filippo Ganna didn't ride in the Tour and has focused strongly on Paris. ■
