From Pogačar's dominance and Girmay's late scare to Cavendish bidding farewell, we look back on the memorable conclusion to this year's Tour
(Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Sunday's historic final stage in Nice drew a close to one of the more memorable editions of the Tour de France in recent years, concluding a final week filled with moments to savour.
After early French success, Biniam Girmay making history, Mark Cavendish breaking records, and more, the third week of the Tour de France brought us yet more talking points, drama, and big battles.
We saw Tadej Pogačar in crush-all-comers mode, the Slovenian winning even when he didn't necessarily set out to do so. We saw a fond farewell to a sprint legend and the crowning of the discipline's newest star. We saw high emotions, no gifts, and displays in the high mountains never witnessed before.
Luckily for us, some of the finest photographers in the sport at SWPix were on hand to capture those moments of high drama, high W/kg, and high emotion as the Tour made its way through the Pyrenees, across to the Alps, and down south to Nice.
Savour the final week of the 2024 Tour de France with our gallery of the biggest moments.
Tadej Pogacar celebrates victory after a record-breaking ride up Plateau de Beille (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Come the Pyrenees, the fight for yellow was still well and truly on. Yes, Jonas Vingegaard lay over a minute down on his great rival Tadej Pogačar. But could their form be heading in opposite directions? Could the man in yellow tire after his Giro d'Italia-winning effort in May as the Dane rode further into form during the race?
Stages 14 and 15 – the first visits to the high mountains since stage 4's border crossing – saw Pogačar seemingly put that idea to bed. Two big attacks from the two-time champion swept Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease A Bike team aside, adding 1:55 to his GC lead.
He celebrated his third win of the Tour atop the Plateau de Beille in record-breaking fashion as Marco Pantani's longstanding climbing record crumbled. The win wasn't a day that sealed the Tour, but with over three minutes in the bank for the Alps, Pogačar showed that he was well and truly in charge of the race.
Stage 16: A scare for Girmay
A late spill for Biniam Girmay injected some late drama into the battle for the green jersey (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Heading into the Tour's final sprint stage in Nîmes, Africa's biggest cycling star Biniam Girmay held a surely unbeatable lead in the green jersey rankings – his 363-point haul dwarfing second-placed Jasper Philipsen's 277. The fight was surely all over.
But nothing is predictable in Tour de France sprints, and so it proved just over a kilometre from the finish on stage 16. Girmay, the triple stage winner and history maker, hit the deck in a late crash, while Philipsen sped on to take his third stage of the summer.
All of a sudden, the points battle got a lot more interesting, with the Belgian now only 32 points down. The sight of Girmay being helped over the line brought worry to many watchers, but disaster was averted. The 24-year-old had avoided any serious injury and picked himself up to consolidate his lead and make history once again in Nice.
Is anybody keeping up? Tadej Pogačar attacks yet again on the road to Superdévoluy (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Up the road, Richard Carapaz was racing to a rare breakaway victory at this year's Tour on a mid-mountain stage ahead of the high Alps. But some nine minutes back down the course, the GC battle was unexpectedly erupting once more.
The slopes of the Col du Noyer on the road to Superdévoluy weren't expected to host a showdown among the podium contenders, but Tadej Pogačar decided that the mountain would be doing exactly that.
He dropped his main rivals on the way up, while Remco Evenepoel showed his strength to leave Jonas Vingegaard behind. Things would come together again before the final climb, though Evenepoel pushed on alone, signalling his intent to battle for second overall right until the final day.
Stage 18: An emotional breakaway win
A rare breakaway success at the 2024 Tour saw Victor Campenaerts touch the hearts of viewers everywhere (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
This year's Tour de France was one of a few major storylines – Pogačar's supremacy, win number 35, Girmay's ascendance. Another that could be added to those is the restriction of the breakaway.
Five stage wins came from the break, with two of those coming in the opening two days making the rest of the race feel barren by comparison. Not to mention the numerous days where only one or two men – or nobody at all – bothered to venture up the road on a surely doomed attack.
Victor Campenaerts' win was the last of the five breakaway triumphs, with the former World Hour Record holder out-bluffing and then out-sprinting his companions on the way to glory in Barcelonnette.
Even more memorable than the sight of the time trial specialist winning the closing sprint was Campenaerts beyond the line – an emotional interview following an equally touching video call with his girlfriend and newborn son.
Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard in shot, Tadej Pogačar well out of it – the Tour in a snapshot (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
If Tadej Pogačar sent out a message with his domination of the Pyrenees and that cheeky attack at SuperDévoluy, stage 19 put the writing clearly on the wall for Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel.
Three days remained and the yellow jersey holder enjoyed a healthy 3:11 lead over second place. He wasn't going to leave it there, however. There were more wins to be won, more time to gain, and more chasing to do for the only two riders within 10 minutes of the leader.
With 8.7km to go, Pogačar turned on the afterburners, leaving Vingegaard and Evenepoel in his wake. He was gone, and he'd gain a mammoth 1:42 at the finish, stage win number five in the bag.
The men in white and polka dots were almost in a separate race to the man in yellow. They were chasing a rider they wouldn't see again until past the finish line, though there were plenty of his fans lining those painful kilometres to the summit of Isola 2000.
Stage 20: No gifts
On the Col de la Couillole, Tadej Pogačar won even when he didn't really seem to be trying to (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
By this late point in the Tour, discourse had strayed far away from whether anybody could actually beat Tadej Pogačar and onto questions over whether the three-time champion-elect should be taking it easy and letting other riders win.
After stage 19, some pundits were of the opinion that he might've let Visma-Lease A Bike's Matteo Jorgenson hang on to take a breakaway win. A day later, on the road to the Col de la Couillole, the Slovenian and his UAE Team Emirates team were conspicuous by their absence at the front of the race.
The break was up the road – was a 'gift' in the offing? Well, Soudal-QuickStep had something to say about that, launching Remco Evenepoel into a Jonas Vingegaard counterattack. End of break, Pogačar in the wheel, Pogačar launches the sprint, Pogačar wins. No gifts, even if he wasn't even trying to win.
Mark Cavendish waves goodbye to the Tour de France for the final time after stage 21 (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
The final stage of the Tour in Nice seemingly drew a close to the Mark Cavendish era. The Manxman, already in the history books as perhaps the best sprinter of all time with 164 wins, came to France seeking one more.
35. That was the magic number. One more than even the greatest of all, Eddy Merckx, could manage. For Cavendish and his Astana Qazaqstan team, it was the goal above all others at the Tour, and by stage 5, a day that will place the village of Saint-Vulbas in cycling's history books.
With the record on his palmarès, Cavendish could savour a final outing at the Tour de France on the race's last day in Nice – even if it wasn't a dream sendoff on the Champs-Elysées.
18 days on from the emotions of the big win, more flew freely in Nice as he tackled a Tour stage for the final time before later drinking in the moment during a special podium ceremony – one to celebrate the man who has won at the Tour more than any rider in history.
Stage 21: The new cannibal
Tadej Pogacar celebrates stage win number six in Nice, rounding off the Tour with another display of his dominance (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Who else? The new cannibal, as Tadej Pogačar has been anointed various times in recent seasons, was never going to let the chance to add another win to his bulging list pass, was he?
Among the podium trio, there was no risk-avoidance, taking it easy, racing safely home during the stage 21 time trial. The big three fought for the final stage victory as hard as they had for the yellow jersey.
Never mind that one wrong move on the Col d'Eze descent could've undone three weeks of hard work for any of them, it was all-out for the win. Pogačar, clearly the strongest man of the Tour, was racing on the roads of his adopted home, too.
His display on the road to Nice underlined the extent of his dominance of this year's race, six wins and the overall by six minutes. Can the new cannibal be stopped in 2025?
Get unlimited access to all the latest news, results, analysis, and exclusive interviews throughout the cycling season with a Cyclingnews subscription - from less than £1 per week.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.
