PARIS (AP) — Tadej Pogacar is poised to win a record-equaling fifth Tour de France title when the showcase race ends with its final stage later on Sunday.
Barring mishap or a crash, the 27-year-old Slovenian star will join Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault as the only men to win five Tours.
He has a big lead of 6 minutes, 26 seconds over Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel and Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro, a 22-year-old Mexican making his Tour debut, is third at nearly 10 minutes behind.
Pogacar's biggest Tour rival has been Jonas Vingegaard, but the two-time Tour champion crashed out of the race last Sunday on stage 15. Both riders had anti-doping tests in the early hours of that morning.
Pogacar had won five stages at this year’s race and 26 overall heading into Sunday’s 21st stage, an 88.7-kilometer (55-mile) loop around Paris scheduled to start just before 6 p.m. local time.
The stage again featured the hugely popular uphill climb through the Montmartre district, a sharp 1-kilometer dash which riders tackle three times before finishing on the Champs-Élysées.
It has been an incredible year for Pogacar, who has won stage races at the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de Romandie, as well as producing some stunning victories in the one-day classics.
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Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar climbs the Sarenne pass ahead of Belgium's Remco Evenepoel, center, and Mexico's Isaac Del Toro, left, during the twentieth stage of the Tour de France cycling race with start in Le Bourg d'Oisans and finish in Alpe d'huez, France, Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates on the podium after the twentieth stage of the Tour de France cycling race with start in Le Bourg d'Oisans and finish in Alpe d'huez, France, Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — A raging wildfire in southwest France forced the evacuation of 55,000 people overnight Sunday, bringing the total forced out of their homes to 220,000 in one region alone, as flames crept ever closer to the wine region city of Bordeaux. Neighboring Spain oversaw its own evacuation orders on the country's east coast.
Authorities in the Gironde region, where Bordeaux is located, issued overnight evacuation orders for five more localities southwest of the historic city, as shifting, gusting winds and arid conditions complicated the massive effort to limit the fire's spread.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said that after a “difficult” night for fire crews, “the situation remains very unfavorable.”
In southwest France, gusting winds fed the flames overnight Sunday, accelerating the spread of the monster blaze that has burned out of control since midweek, the Gironde prefecture said.
“The fire again became extremely virulent again and unpredictable, generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area," Nunez, the interior minister, posted on X.
“It became calmer by the end of the night," he added.
The area that has burned, much of it pine forests and scrubland made tinder-dry by successive heat waves this year, has grown inexorably, expanding by Sunday morning to an estimated 42,000 hectares (162 square miles), the Gironde prefecture said. That is seven times the area of Manhattan island and four times the size of Paris.
Firefighters are battling to slow the flames' progression toward Bordeaux, both on the ground and in the air, with planes dropping water and retardants. Soldiers have been called in to reinforce fire crews' exhausting round-the-clock efforts.
Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave described the fire as being "at the gates of the metropolitan area,” having advanced to about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the city at its closest point.
The Gironde prefect ordered the partial closure of a major highway heading in and out of the city.
A second fire burning farther south in the Landes region has also forced the evacuation of 30,000 people this week, taking the total driven out of their homes in the southwest to more than 250,000.
In neighboring Spain, authorities oversaw a new round of evacuations due to wildfires in the Valencia region. In total, uncontrolled blazes there and others west of Madrid this week have forced 116,000 people out of their homes.
A wildfire in a bushy ravine in Manises, a suburb of Valencia, that raged out of control for four hours killed one man on Saturday, the local government said, marking Spain’s first recorded death in the latest fires.
Earlier this month, 13 people were killed in a fire in southern Spain, the country’s deadliest blaze in recent memory.
Leicester reported from Paris. Associated Press journalist Teresa Medrano in Madrid contributed.
Firefighters battle a wildfire in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, west of Madrid, Spain, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Firefighters from Paris battle a wildfire near Marcheprime, outside, Bordeaux, France, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
A local resident uses a hose to put out flames burning across the road from his house near Marcheprime, outside, Bordeaux, France, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Firefighters battle a wildfire near Marcheprime, outside, Bordeaux, France, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
The rising sun appears through smoke from burning wildfires near Marcheprime, outside Bordeaux, France, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Firefighters spray water in a burning forest near Lacanau, southwestern France, Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Firefighters spray water in a burning forest near Lacanau, southwestern France, Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Firefighters spray water in a burning forest near Lacanau, southwestern France, Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
