Pogačar, Ferrand-Prévot Win Tour de France

Paris, France —(Map)

The Tour de France is an extremely difficult bike race. Held in France in the summer heat, bikers race for days up and down mountains, on steep, windy, dangerous roads. The men’s race ended July 27 when Tadej Pogačar won the race for the fourth time. The women’s race finished Sunday with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot taking first place.

The Tour de France is a massive challenge. Every day, riders tackle a different part of the race, called a “stage”. Every stage can have a different winner, and each day, the total time is added up. The person who is leading wears a yellow jersey (shirt), to show that they are winning.

The bikers work in teams. By working together, the bikers can help each other out. Sometimes one biker will go in front to protect others from the wind. Sometimes a biker will go as fast as he can to get a good time or to tire out the bikers on the other teams. Usually each team has a leader. The other team members work to help the leader win.

The men’s Tour lasts over three weeks, and this year, it covered 2,052 miles (3,302 kilometers). Tadej Pogačar, a 26-year-old athlete from Slovenia, finished the race with a winning time of 76 hours and 32 seconds. That was four minutes and 24 seconds faster than Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard, who came in second.

This was Pogačar’s fourth time winning the Tour. And it was the fifth year in a row that Pogačar and Vingegaard took the first two places in the race.

This was Pogačar’s fourth time winning the Tour. And it was the fifth year in a row that Pogačar and Vingegaard took the first two places in the race. Above, the two shake hands after the race. (Pogačar is in yellow.)

But on some of the steepest climbs, Pogačar was so fast that even Vingegaard could not keep up. Pogačar won four of the Tour’s stages, proving that he could ride well in a wide variety of conditions.

Pogačar is now tied with the United Kingdom’s Chris Froome, with four Tour wins. But there are five cyclists in history who have won the Tour five times. It’s likely that Pogačar is hoping to join them soon.

Tour de France Femmes

This year’s women’s Tour lasted nine days and covered 726 miles (1,169 kilometers). It was won by 33-year-old French cyclist Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (above), with a time of 29 hours, 54 minutes, and 24 seconds. She’s the first French person to win the Tour since the 1980s.

This year’s women’s Tour – officially called the “Tour de France Femmes” – lasted nine days and covered 726 miles (1,169 kilometers). It was won by 33-year-old French cyclist Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, with a time of 29 hours, 54 minutes, and 24 seconds. She’s the first French person to win the Tour since the 1980s. Ferrand-Prévot came in three minutes and 42 seconds ahead of Demi Vollering of the Netherlands, who won the Tour in 2023.

Ferrand-Prévot is a powerful bike rider who has held world titles in road biking (like the Tour), cross-country mountain biking (she won an Olympic gold medal last year), and cyclocross. But before this year, she hadn’t competed in a road race since 2018.

Ferrand-Prévot won two of the Tour’s nine stages. Her incredible climb up the steep Col de la Madeleine mountain in the French Alps was the key to her success. But she locked in her victory with a powerful uphill ride in the Tour’s ninth and final stage (above).

Ferrand-Prévot won two of the Tour’s nine stages. Her incredible climb up the steep Col de la Madeleine mountain in the French Alps was the key to her success. But she locked in her victory with a powerful uphill ride in the Tour’s ninth and final stage.

---

Did You Know…?
There hasn’t always been a women’s version of the Tour de France. For many years there were related women’s races, but there were also many years with no women’s race. The new version of the women’s Tour de France first started in 2022, and it has been very popular.