The Slovenian answered that question almost immediately. On the first major mountain stage, he produced one of the greatest performances of his career. He attacked nearly five kilometres from the summit of the Tourmalet, dropped Vingegaard without the Dane being able to respond and reached the top in 43 minutes and 12 seconds, smashing by more than two minutes the record they had set together in 2023.

The climb everyone wants to conquer

Talking about the Tourmalet means talking about a legendary climb, perhaps the most legendary of them all. With more than a century of history in the Tour de France, it is arguably the most iconic ascent in world cycling. Coppi, Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, Contador and Froome have all ridden its slopes. Winning there has always been part of a champion’s legacy. Holding the fastest ascent adds an extra layer of prestige for today’s generation. Cycling has also changed. For decades, fans compared victories and yellow jerseys. Today, they also compare climbing times.

The popularity of platforms such as Strava has turned the sport’s greatest climbs into global segments. Every year, thousands of amateur cyclists ride the Tourmalet, Alpe d’Huez, Galibier or Hautacam and understand exactly what it means to shave a few seconds off a time… or more than two minutes off a historic record. That culture of measuring every climb has brought into the mainstream a conversation that was once limited to sports directors, coaches and specialists.

The Tourmalet record no longer belongs only to the Tour de France. It is now part of a permanent ranking shared by professionals and amateurs, even though they compete in completely different worlds.

A champion already racing against history

Since 2020, Pogacar has won four Tour de France titles, one Giro d’Italia, two UCI Road World Championships, one European Championship and thirteen Monuments, while surpassing 120 professional victories. A palmarès that places him at the forefront of 21st-century cycling and increasingly invites comparisons with some of the greatest riders in the history of the sport. The Tourmalet now adds another symbolic title, as it means owning the benchmark time on the most iconic climb in the Tour de France.

It is worth pointing out that the conditions also contributed to such an extraordinary performance. The relentless pace set by UAE Team Emirates from the foot of the climb, combined with a favourable tailwind, allowed several riders to beat the previous record set in 2023. Vingegaard, Evenepoel, Juan Ayuso, Isaac del Toro and Paul Seixas all climbed the Tourmalet faster than the previous best time.

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The strength of this recognition lies in its selection method. The ranking is decided through a secret ballot by the L’Équipe editorial staff, in which specialist journalists assign points based on the overall impact of each athlete’s season. Titles, consistency, competitive context and the historical dimension of achievements are all taken into account, with a transversal approach that places very different disciplines on equal footing, without hierarchies based on popularity or commercial interests.

Within that framework, McIntosh and Pogacar came out on top after a vote closed on 25 November, capping a year in which both had been at the centre of the sport’s biggest stages. For both athletes, it also represented a long-pursued reward after coming close in previous editions.

A dominant year for Summer McIntosh

In the women’s category, the Canadian swimmer rose to the top after narrowly missing out on the award the previous year. At just 19, McIntosh closed 2025 as one of the most dominant figures in international sport, maintaining her level across every major competitive stage of the season.

A triple Olympic champion in Paris 2024 before even turning 18, the Canadian further expanded her résumé at the World Championships in Singapore. There, she claimed four world titles in the 400 m freestyle, 200 m butterfly, 200 m individual medley and 400 m individual medley, and narrowly missed a clean sweep after finishing third in the 800 m. A record that ultimately tipped the vote in her favour.

Behind her, athletics played a central role in the women’s standings. American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone finished second after winning two world titles and posting the second-fastest 400 metres time in history (47.78), while Melissa Jefferson-Wooden completed the podium after dominating the sprint events with three gold medals at the World Championships in Tokyo.

Women’s World Champions ranking

1. Summer McIntosh (Canada), swimming, 628 points

2. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (United States), athletics, 516 points

3. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (United States), athletics, 425 points

4. Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt (France), cycling, 375 points

5. Katie Ledecky (United States), swimming, 331 points

6. Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus), tennis, 293 points

7. Federica Brignone (Italy), skiing, 151 points

8. Aitana Bonmatí (Spain), football, 140 points

9. Beatrice Chebet (Kenya), athletics, 85 points

10. Angelina Melnikova (Russia), gymnastics, 72 points

Pogacar, a dominance that decided the vote

In the men’s category, this time the victory went to Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian produced one of the most complete seasons in modern cycling by winning his fourth Tour de France and adding three more Monuments to his palmarès: the Tour of Flanders, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Giro di Lombardia. A blend of Grand Tours, Classics and consistency that ultimately made the difference in the final vote.

Athletics also carried significant weight, with Armand Duplantis finishing second. The Swede raised his pole vault world record to 6.30 metres during the season, but once again fell just short of the top spot, as had happened the year before.

The podium was completed by Carlos Alcaraz, winner of Roland-Garros — after a high-intensity final against Jannik Sinner — and the US Open, who also ended the year as world number one.

Men’s World Champions ranking

1. Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia), cycling, 821 points

2. Armand Duplantis (Sweden), athletics, 799 points

3. Carlos Alcaraz (Spain), tennis, 252 points

4. Ousmane Dembélé (France), football, 226 points

5. Jannik Sinner (Italy), tennis, 169 points

6. Léon Marchand (France), swimming, 146 points

7. Marc Márquez (Spain), motorcycle racing, 134 points

8. Marco Odermatt (Switzerland), skiing, 104 points

9. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), basketball, 103 points

10. Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), golf, 75 points

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RECORDS ON COBBLESTONE SECTIONS

During his training, Pogacar beat previous times recorded on Strava in three emblematic sectors. In Mons-en-Pévèle he reached an average speed of 40.2 km/h, between Auchy-lez-Orchies and Bersée he clocked 42.1 km/h, and in Gruson he reached 48.8 km/h. In addition, on the legendary Carrefour de l’Arbre, one of the most iconic sections of Paris-Roubaix, he recorded an average speed of almost 41 km/h, just one second off the record set in the race by Wout Van Aert.

PREPARING FOR HIS FIRST PARIS-ROUBAIX

This is not the first time Pogacar has ridden the cobblestone roads of northern France. In February, he had already shared a training video on his Instagram account, although at the time his sport director, Fabio Baldato, dismissed rumors about his participation in Paris-Roubaix. However, the Slovenian has confirmed his presence in this year’s edition, one of the most anticipated events on the cycling calendar.

The upcoming showdown between Pogacar and Mathieu Van der Poel at Paris-Roubaix is already generating great expectation among fans, who are expecting an epic duel in the ‘Hell of the North’.

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Pidcock, 24, thus confirmed his title as Olympic champion and climbed to the top of the podium just as he did in Tokyo 2020. In the world of cycling today there are two names that take all the praise. The British in the mountains and the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar in the big distances. The great absentee from Paris 2024 jumped to memory when he saw how Pidcock once again showed himself as the absolute dominator of his discipline and raised the question, to whom does the current reign of cycling belong? Two big names shining on the big stages.

It is a consultation between fierce dominators. Pidcock won Olympic gold again, but on the world mountain bike circuit he had already been demonstrating his potential for some time. To the medal won in Paris we must add the world title won in 2023 and the European title in 2022. That in cross country, because in cyclocross it also adds other world titles.

Pogacar in the Tour de France (Pieter van der Woude/Orange Pictures).

Pidcock today dazzles in the mountains, but it also has history on the road. In 2022 he won a stage of the Tour de France, in the edition in which he finished 16th in the general classification.

The comparison is natural when thinking about Pogacar. The 25-year-old Slovenian is today the man to beat in road cycling. He comes from winning the Giro d’Italia this season and more recently the Tour de France for the third time after 2020 and 2021. He dropped out of the Olympic Games days after celebrating with the yellow jersey, so he will not be able to defend the bronze he obtained in Tokyo.

The question is open and although some may say that the mountains are not the same as long road distances, despite the fact that MTB also mixes consistency, power and resistance, they are two big names on the table. Each one dominant in their discipline and who, without a doubt, magnify the great moment of world cycling.

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Only Fausto Coppi in 1949 and 1952, Jacques Anquetil in 1964, Eddy Merckx in 1970, 1972 and 1974, Bernard Hinault in 1982 and 1985, Stephen Roche in 1987, Miguel Indurain in 1992 and 1993 and Marco Pantani in 1998. It has been 26 years since anyone has achieved what Pogacar has done this year and that makes him one of the greatest cyclists in history.

Pogacar is puncheur, chronoman, sprinter, climber but what he really is, is a winner. The perfect cyclist, who decides everything and who everyone fears. He is the man who, when he gets on his bike, it is to win. He raced for 52 days this season to win the double.

A Tour de France with six stages and 19 days in yellow; a Giro d’Italia with six stages and 20 days in pink. He has also won his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Volta a Catalunya, his second Strade Bienche and a third place in San Remo, which he is still chasing. Of the 52 races he has raced, 45 have been ridden as a leader.

As if all this were not enough, Pogacar is the first non-racer since Bernard Hinault in 1979 to win at least six stages in an edition of the Tour de France. At just 25 years of age, he has 82 victories to his name, four grand tours with 26 stage wins, six monuments and as many as six overall World Tour classifications that make him one of the greatest, a cyclist who rides for history.

RIVALS

His rivalry with Vingegaar will be remembered for eternity as one of the most epic. The last four Tours have been theirs and they are the first riders in history to finish in the top two overall four years in a row.

They’ve recaptured France, overtaking their great rivals and inaugurating what looks like a legacy for many years to come. ‘I’ve been hearing for two years that we’re living in the best era of cycling, with Evenepoel, Vingegaar and Roglic and others coming behind, I think we can have a lot of fun,’ said the Slovenian, who set his sights on another goal: ’I want to be world champion.

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