Tadej Pogačar underlined his status as one of cycling’s greats by winning his fourth Tour de France title on Sunday, leaving him just one shy of the overall record.

Following a thrilling final stage of the three-week-long race, Pogačar safely rolled over the line on the Champs-Élysées in Paris to ensure that he would win the yellow jersey for the second consecutive year.

He even tried to win the final stage and made it into the decisive move of the day but ultimately Belgium’s Wout van Aert proved too strong and rode away from him on the steep, cobbled slopes of Montmartre.

In the general classification, Pogačar eventually finished four minutes and 24 seconds ahead of his great rival Jonas Vingegaard, himself a two-time Tour de France winner who attacked and attacked throughout this race, especially in its third week, but was never able to dislodge Pogačar from his back wheel.

Aside from a split second on the slopes of the famous Mont Ventoux when a millimeter of daylight opened up between them, Pogačar has easily matched everything Vingegaard has thrown at him.

And even in full flight, Vingegaard’s attacks seemed in vain because when Pogačar attacked at the foot of the Hautacam on Stage 12, no one – not even Vingegaard – could match his blistering acceleration. He gained more than two minutes on the Dane on that day. Coupled with his gains in both the race’s individual time trials, that effectively gave Pogačar an unassailable lead with a week still to race.

He proved dominant on every terrain in those first two weeks, winning four stages and tightening his grip on the yellow jersey. But just when he seemed able to win stages and threaten every classification almost at will, he eased off, appearing mentally, if not quite physically, exhausted.

Still, he coasted through the rest of the race and secured the yellow jersey, becoming the first reigning world champion to win the Tour de France since 1990 when the USA’s Greg LeMond completed that feat.

And Pogačar’s fourth Tour de France title means that only Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin, who have all won the race five times, sit ahead of him on the all-time list. Lance Armstrong won seven titles but was stripped of them in 2012 after admitting using performance-enhancing drugs.

No one apart from Vingegaard finished within 10 minutes of Pogačar on the general classification. Germany’s Florian Lipowitz rounded out the podium in third place, 11 minutes behind Pogačar, and also won the white jersey for the best young rider. Meanwhile, Italy’s Jonathan Milan won the green jersey often worn by the best sprinter in the race. Pogačar won the polka-dot jersey worn by the race’s best climber.