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July 18 (UPI) -- Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia won the Tour de France for the second consecutive year Sunday in Paris. The UAE Team Emirates cyclist entered the final stage with an insurmountable lead of five minutes and 20 seconds, a margin that he maintained as he crossed the finish line. Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark came in second, and Richard Carapaz of Ecuador finished third, 7:03 off the pace.
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No other rider was within 10 minutes of Pogacar, who had won three stages entering Sunday.
The 22-year-old Pogacar won his first Tour de France title in September, when he became the Tour's youngest champion in 116 years. He is now the youngest double winner in the race's history.
"I don't consider this the 'Pogacar era,'" said Pogacar, who is the only Slovenian to wear the yellow jersey, cycling's most coveted prize. "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."
Pogacar stepped onto the podium three times Sunday once again, wearing the yellow jersey for the general classification winner, the polka-dot jersey given to the Tour's top climber and the white jersey awarded to its best young rider. He earned the same three jerseys in last year's event.
