Gulf Today Report

UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogacar produced another stupendous performance to all but win the second consecutive title at the Tour de France on Saturday.

He managed to protect his big lead at the penultimate stage of the tour -- wrapping the title virtually, -- which left only formalities to be completed on Sunday.

Though Wout van Aert won the stage, a determined Pogacar had a stellar finish as he just needed to cross the finish line to be crowned the champion of the greatest and the most prestigious cycling tour formally.

In his run-up to the title triumph, Pogacar won three stages of the tour and managed to retain the lead once he climbed to the top of the standings.

Pogacar holds a lead of five minutes 20 seconds over second nearest rival Dane Jonas Vingegaard and the third-placed Richard Carapaz trails the defending champions by a huge margin of seven minutes and three seconds.

Meanwhile, Andre Greipel announced on Saturday that he will retire at the end of the year.

Greipel, who turned 39 on Friday, rode a grueling 207km on Tour de France 19th stage.

The German sprinter, also known as the Gorilla, has been a permanent feature of the Tour De France since 2011, winning 11 stages.