Tadej Pogacar's cycling supremacy is such that few riders can even challenge him

PARIS (AP) — Tadej Pogacar's record-equaling fifth Tour de France title puts him among the greatest cyclists in the sport, and he could become the best of all in years to come.

After Sunday's 21st and final stage in Paris, the 27-year-old Slovenian joined Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain, and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault as the only riders to win five Tour titles.

Pogacar finished 6 minutes, 26 seconds ahead of Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel, a time trial great, in the overall standings.

Jonas Vingegaard, who was once Pogacar's big rival, crashed out of the race on the 15th stage. Vingegaard, a former fish factory worker from Denmark, won the Tour in 2022 and ' 23. For his second title, he beat Pogacar by more than seven minutes in a result that put them level at 2-2 for Tour titles.

Pogacar has since won the Tour three straight times. Vingegaard, despite clinching the Spanish Vuelta last September and the Giro d'Italia earlier this year, barely mustered a challenge at this Tour. He did briefly wear the yellow jersey, but that was thanks to a team effort after Visma-Lease a Bike team won the opening-day team time trial in Barcelona.

Pogacar won five stages and now has 26 overall. He still needs 10 stage wins to break Mark Cavendish’s Tour record of 35. That may take two years given that Pogacar’s best in a single edition is six, during the 2024 Tour.

Vingegaard is 29 and has time to win more Tours, but needs to find a way to challenge Pogacar again in the high climbs.

Otherwise, the list of contenders is slim.

Paul Seixas carries the renewed hopes of French supporters, 41 years after the last of Hinault's wins. The 19-year-old Seixas placed fourth on his Tour debut and fellow Frenchman Lenny Martinez, who is an excellent climber, placed fifth overall.

Both are riders of the future.

Martinez, 23, blew the chance of a stage win on the iconic Alpe d'Huez when he didn't work properly with Richard Carapaz to distance Pogacar lower down the climb.

Carapaz won two mountain stages but the 33-year-old Ecuadorian was not a threat for the title and Pogacar didn't need to chase him. The 2019 Giro d'Italia winner is an attacking rider, but advancing years — and the fact he placed 20 minutes behind Pogacar overall — diminish the challenge he poses to Pogacar in future.

Only the 26-year-old Evenepoel appears to have an outside chance of toppling Pogacar. The two-time Olympic champion can beat Pogacar in time trials and is young enough to improve in the mountains. He rode well to win the 15th stage, albeit after Vingegaard had crashed.

He is part of an ambitious Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team which has big financial backing and could yet build a winning team around him. However, the team must decide who to back as No. 1 rider between Evenepoel and German climber Florian Lipowitz, who was third on last year's Tour.

Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates teammate Isaac Del Toro, a 22-year-old Mexican making his Tour debut, placed third overall but remains under Pogacar's wing as his elite support rider.

It has been a great year for Pogacar.

He won stage races at the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de Romandie, as well as stunning victories in one-day classics.

Pogacar won the Giro d’Italia by a huge margin in 2024.

But unlike Vingegaard, Hinault, Anquetil, and Merckx, he has not won the Spanish Vuelta for a hat trick of Grand Tours wins.

“Will I be at La Vuelta in a few weeks?” Pogacar said teasingly on Sunday. “Let’s see.”

This year's race made headlines when Pogacar and Vingegaard had unannounced anti-doping tests in the early hours: 5 a.m. for Pogacar and 2 a.m. for Vingegaard.

Some fans were outraged, and Evenepoel described the timing as “very disrespectful” to riders during an exhausting race.

Pogacar suggested fatigue may have played a factor in Vingegaard's crash later that day. However, Pogacar later accepted that random-hour testing helps improve transparency.

Cycling’s governing body, the UCI, has entrusted Tour testing since 2021 to the Swiss-based International Testing Agency, which said correct procedures were followed.

The sport's reputation was badly hit when Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour titles (1999-2005) after confessing in 2013 to having used performance-enhancing drugs. Two years later, a 227-page report detailed cycling’s historic culture of drug use.

British rider Chris Froome, who won the Tour four times (2013 and 2015-17) when trust in cycling overall was very low following the Armstrong scandal, said he agreed with the early-morning tests.

“It is something that, as riders, I just think we have to embrace,” he said in an interview with British newspaper The Telegraph. “Our doors always have to be open, regardless of how inconvenient it is ... to inspire confidence and to act as a deterrent.”

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Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates on the podium with Belgium's Remco Evenepoel, left, who finished second, and Mexico's Isaac Del Toro, right, who came third, after the last stage of the Tour de France cycling race with start and finish in Paris, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates as he crosses the finish line of the last stage of the Tour de France cycling race with start and finish in Paris, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates on the podium after the last stage of the Tour de France cycling race with start and finish in Paris, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates on the podium after winning the Tour de France cycling race alongside Belgium's Remco Evenepoel, second, and Mexico's Isaac Del Toro, third, in Paris, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernard Papon/Pool Photo via AP)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates as he crosses the finish line of the last stage of the Tour de France cycling race with start and finish in Paris, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

SEATTLE (AP) — A shooting killed two people and wounded five including a child on Sunday evening during a popular food festival near the Space Needle in Seattle, a city fire department spokesperson said.

The gunfire erupted around 6 p.m. in the waning hours of the Bite of Seattle, an annual festival that draws hundreds of food and retail vendors and performers. Police were investigating the shooting and urged people to avoid the area just northwest of downtown.

Mayor Katie Wilson said police had taken one person into custody. The Seattle Police Department did not comment on any arrests but planned to hold a press conference Sunday night.

Two people died at the scene, said Grace Nuñez, spokesperson for the Seattle Fire Department.

Five patients were transported to Harborview Medical Center, including a 56-year-old woman in serious condition, Nuñez said.

A 2-year-old boy, a 23-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman are in stable condition, while a 40-year-old woman had minor injuries, she said.

Hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg said the victims suffered injuries to the arm, abdomen or legs.

A large number of police and emergency crews responded and began evacuating the area around the sprawling Seattle Center events campus. Authorities have not said where exactly the shooting occurred at the event, which had outdoor and indoor areas.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said he was receiving briefings and State Patrol SWAT officers were deployed to assist local police.

“My prayers are with the families of the victims, and the responders as they work to keep people safe,” Ferguson said in a statement.

Faith Adia Hunter said she and her friends had just gotten food from a crepe vendor when gunfire broke out. She realized a shooter was near them.

“We were right next to him when it started so we took off running,” Hunter said. “So we took off running too into the building with the crowd.”

She and others found shelter in the nearby Seattle Children’s Museum, Hunter said.

In the chaos of the shooting, many vendors bolted toward the exits, abandoning their food stands. Hours afterward, some milled outside the police tape, wondering when they would be allowed to return to collect their tents, food and cooking gear.

Roberto Ramirez, a vendor at the event, said he heard what sounded like firecrackers before people began yelling “shooter” and frantically running.

“Suddenly everything was empty,” he said. “People were freaked out.”

After the initial panic, new guests continued to arrive unaware of what had happened and were told by police to leave, he said.

Estan Wakonabo said he and his girlfriend were at the festival waiting in line for a photo booth when he was shoved from behind and he turned to see a rush of people fleeing.

“People were hiding, were pushing, people were falling on the ground, baby strollers were falling,” Wakonabo said, adding that was when he heard gunshots.

“Once I heard a ‘pop, pop, pop,’ that’s when I knew it was a shooter,” he said.

After he escorted his girlfriend to safety, he returned to the scene to make photos and saw multiple victims on the ground, Wakonabo said.

The annual festival started in 1982 and draws 350,000 attendees over “three days of food, drink, and community celebration,” according to its website.

Associated Press journalists Manuel Valdes and Lindsey Wasson in Seattle, Annika Wolters in Bangkok and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

An unidentified man is led into the scene by police after they responded to a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A police officer stands at a closed off area after a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Police respond to a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Police respond to a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A police officer responds after a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)