While Tadej Pogačar does not publicly profess to caring about breaking records, one more yellow jersey in Paris this summer will tie him with the very best.Another record will take a little longer: Mark Cavendish’s tally of 35 Tour de France stage wins. However, with 21 already on his resumè, the Slovenian is already sixth on the all-time list. Given his current stage race dominance, surpassing the sport’s greatest sprinter feels increasingly like a matter of when, not if.There have been jaw-dropping solo displays of power in the high mountains, time-trial triumphs, long-range attacks and shows of his punch in group sprints. Flat bunch gallops are about the only kind of finish the UAE Team Emirates-XRG captain has not conquered. Evidently, you cannot Pogačar-proof a route of the sport’s leading race.It was a thankless task whittling down his abundance of excellence to a slim vintage, but here is our look at six of his best Tour stage wins, factoring in not just quality and spectacle, but context and versatility too.
CAV 🤝 POGACAR #TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/aBnAM43hRA
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 20256. Stage four, Rouen, 2025Pogačar likened the victory that brought up his century of wins in pro cycling to a mini Classic. He attacked on a steep kicker in the Rouen suburbs, but Jonas Vingegaard only briefly lost ground, along with several other GC rivals.Pogačar distances the peloton, but not Vingegaard, on the steep roads of Rouen in 2025 (BERNARD PAPON/AFP via Getty Images)It brought about an unpredictable finale, not a scenario we readily associate with Pogačar when uphills are involved. He held his nerve and had the help of a faithful super-domestique: João Almeida kept the group together before Pogačar latched onto a flying Mathieu van der Poel and shot past him in the last 50 meters of the six-rider sprint.“You never know until the final, you get this adrenaline. It’s pure, pure racing – and I enjoy it,” he said afterwards of the finale.
