Pogačar looks unstoppable as he chases record-tying fifth Tour de France win

PARIS (AP) — Tadej Pogačar has never appeared stronger as he stands on the verge of joining the ranks of the Tour de France’ s greatest champions.

The two-time world champion has crushed his rivals this season, across all terrains. That's primed Pogačar to chase a record-equaling fifth Tour victory starting on Saturday in Barcelona.

The only four riders to have won five Tours are Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault.

American rider Lance Armstrong won seven Tours from 1999-2005 but was stripped of them for participating in a systemic doping program.

Pogačar's insatiable thirst for winning has drawn comparisons with Merckx, widely regarded as the greatest of all time. Some observers believe the 27-year-old from Slovenia could eventually surpass Merckx’s records from the 1960s and 70s.

Take this season, for instance: In only 16 race days he recorded 13 victories, including general classifications wins at the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de Romandie, as well as one-day triumphs at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Tour of Flanders, Milan San Remo and Strade Bianche.

His only setback came at Paris-Roubaix, where Belgian rider Wout van Aert prevented Pogačar rider from completing the set of cycling's five Monuments.

Pogačar's latest outing, at the Tour de Suisse, was a masterclass in which he left only crumbs for his rivals. He finished 6 minutes, 32 seconds ahead of second-placed Ecuador rider Richard Carapaz.

“The work has been done, I'm really looking forward to the whole month in France,” Pogačar says.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader is not only the strongest rider, he can also rely on talented and experienced teammates. Pogačar is supported in his quest by 2025 Giro d'Italia runner-up Isaac del Toro — a key asset in the mountains — Felix Großschartner, Brandon McNulty, Nils Politt, Florian Vermeersch, Tim Wellens, and Adam Yates, who finished third on the 2023 Tour.

“I know I’ll have a fantastic group of teammates,” Pogačar says. “We have a lot of confidence in each other and have built up a lot of experience together over the years.”

Even though Pogačar is in a class of his own, cycling is a brutal sport where a crash or a moment of fatigue can shatter a rider’s hopes in an instant. Perfectly aware that fortunes can change in the blink of an eye, his rivals will line up with their morale high.

Like in every summer for the past five years, Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike should be Pogačar's main rival. They have split Tour victories since 2020, with Vingegaard taking home the yellow jersey in 2022 and ’23.

The Danish rider is aiming to complete the men’s Giro-Tour double. When he won the Giro in May, Vingegaard became the eighth male rider to win all three Grand Tours.

“That gave me a tremendous amount of confidence heading into the Tour de France,” he says. “A third Tour victory would be a dream come true. It has been three years since I last won the Tour and ever since then it has remained one of my biggest goals."

Despite van Aert's absence because of an elbow injury, Vingegaard can count on a strong group of domestiques including top American climbers Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss, as well as highly rated Tour debutants Per Strand Hagenes and Davide Piganzoli.

Among others hoping to dethrone Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz — third last year — will share the leadership at Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe.

France will have its eyes fixed on a rider making his Tour debut with the ambition of winning it one day.

At 19, Paul Seixas will become one of the youngest riders ever to take part in cycling’s showpiece race. He's widely regarded as France’s best hope of a first champion since Hinault in 1985. But the CMA CGM Decathlon team leader has been downplaying his hopes.

Seixas crashed recently at the Tour Auvergne–Rhone-Alpes though he says he's recovered well.

“I feel ready to give everything to get through these three weeks and achieve the best possible overall result,” he says. “I’m not setting a more specific goal because I’m heading into the unknown, since I’ve never competed in a race this long and demanding before.”

The last rider to win the Tour on debut? Pogačar in 2020, at age 21.

The 113th Tour will be launched in a team time trial. After leaving Spain, the peloton will enter the Pyrenees mountains on just the third day. Covering more than 3,300 kilometers (2,050 miles) altogether, the race visits France’s five mountain ranges — the Massif Central, Jura, Vosges and the Alps are the others — and features eight mountain stages, including five summit finishes.

Stages 19 and 20 culminate at the famed Alpe d’Huez, which comes just 24 hours before the 21st and final stage ending on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

“The climb to Alpe d’Huez will be revealing its two sides for the first time, making it very possible that the deck could be reshuffled over these two days,” race director Christian Prudhomme says.

The only individual time trial takes place against the backdrop of Lake Geneva on Stage 16 and, after its introduction last year was hugely successful, Montmartre will welcome the peloton during the grand finale on July 26.

AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire contributed.

AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

Tadej Pogacar from Slovenia pedals during the fourth stage, a 23,8 km time trial race with start and finish in Aarburg, at the 89th Tour de Suisse UCI World Tour cycling race, Saturday, June 20, 2026. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)

FILE - Belgium's Remco Evenepoel reacts as he crosses the finish line to win the Belgian cycling classic and UCI World Tour cycling race Liege Bastogne Liege, in Liege, Belgium, on April 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys, File)

FILE - Paul Seixas of France catches his breath after crossing the finish line to win the Belgian cycling classic Fleche Wallonne (Walloon Arrow), in Huy, Belgium, on April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

FILE - Overall leader Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard arrives at the finish line of the last stage of the Giro d'Italia in Rome, on May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

FILE - Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia celebrates on the podium after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 132.3 kilometers (82.1 miles) with start in Mantes-la-Ville and finish on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, France, on July 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Three pre-dawn firebomb attacks apparently targeting the residences of members of Greece’s governing conservative New Democracy party have left five people hospitalized, with one in serious condition, authorities said Wednesday.

The attacks between 4 a.m. and 4:45 a.m. outside apartment buildings in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki used crude explosive devices made with camping gas canisters. All the injuries were sustained from the last of the three attacks, where cars and motorcycles were set ablaze, police said.

One of the cars reportedly was owned by a parliamentary candidate for the New Democracy party. The candidate suffered burns and her mother was hospitalized in intensive care with burns, police said.

Three other residents in the apartment building were hospitalized with smoke inhalation, police said.

“The world of New Democracy will not be terrorized,” the party's political committee secretary Konstantinos Kyranakis said in a statement. The attacks “were a proper terrorist attack on the homes of New Democracy members,” he said, adding that “those who carried it out aimed to kill.”

Attacks by shadowy Greek militant groups against symbols of power or the property of politicians, police or other authority figures are relatively frequent. Most cause material damage but no injuries.

“Let those who, for years, have cultivated a culture of tolerance towards political violence reflect on their responsibilities,” Kyranakis said.

A bomb exploded in July 2025 outside the Thessaloniki home of the president of Greece’s association of prison guards. The prison guard association president was unharmed but two others suffered minor injuries from shattered glass.

In June 2024, a police officer guarding the home of a top judge in Athens was injured in a gasoline bomb attack.

Burned vehicles are seen following firebomb attacks that apparently targeted members of Greece's governing conservative New Democracy party in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Burned vehicles are seen following firebomb attacks that apparently targeted members of Greece's governing conservative New Democracy party in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

A man looks at burned vehicles following firebomb attacks that apparently targeted members of Greece's governing conservative New Democracy party in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)