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Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates won his second Tour de France on Sunday in Paris, defending his 2020 title with a strong finish. He was one of the favorites ahead of the start of Tour de France 2021 along with fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic and rival Geraint Thomas.
READ: Alberto Contador picks Tadej Pogacar as his 2021 Tour de France winner
Tadej Pogacar, who remained focused and concentrated on remaining injury-free in the early stages of the 2021 Tour de France, survived a major crash in the first stage where more than 21 riders were injured.
Roglic, who did manage to escape the stage one accident, had a major crash on stage three. The crash dislocated his shoulder and he soon had to withdraw from the Tour de France.
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After Stage 18 of 2021 Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar was quoted by CNN:
"I don't consider this the 'Pogacar era. That's just stupid in my opinion, but for sure a new era is coming. We see so many youngsters stepping up to the highest level and we will see a lot of battles between everybody, so many young names. The next few years will be really tough."
Last year, Tadej Pogacar had become the youngest rider to win the Tour de France since Henri Cornet in 1904. After winning the 2021 Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar has become the youngest rider to win two Tour de France titles.
According to Reuters, in 2020, Tadej Pogacar became the first rider since Eddy Merckx in 1969 to hold three distinctive jerseys (yellow, white for the best Under-25 and polka dot for the mountains classification). Merckx had won the mountains classification, yellow jersey and green jersey for the points classification.
Thomas, who also suffered injuries early on, dropped down in the rankings.
Tadej Pogacar faced a challenge from Jonas Vingegaard in the mountain stages, but he focused on recovering time and won two stage finishes in the mountain leg.
2021 Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar wins yellow jersey and Mark Cavendish wins green jersey
Mark Cavendish of Great Britain, who had a sensational Tour de France 2021, won the green jersey despite missing out on his 35th stage victory. Belgium's Wout van Aert won the stage 21 on the Champs-Elysees on Paris on Sunday ahead of Cavendish.
2021 Tour de France: Mark Cavendish returns after 3 years
Cavendish equalled Tour de France legend Eddy Merckx's mark of 34 stage victories, which has stood since 1975. The British rider won stages four, six, 10 and 13 in the 2021 Tour de France.
Cavendish, who was written off by many, had suggested in October last year that he may retire from cycling following the Gent-Wevelgem race in Belgium. The Manx Rider has suffered a run of poor form and illness in the past few years. Team Deceuninck-Quick Step announced Cavendish as a replacement for Sam Bennett a few days before the start of 2021 Tour de France — a decision which had surprised many.
