Nobody actually expected the 2025 Tour de France to end any other way. Honestly, when Tadej Pogačar rolled into a rainy Paris on July 27, it felt more like a coronation than a conclusion. The guy is just on another planet right now.
By the time the peloton hit the Champs-Élysées, the yellow jersey was settled. It wasn't even close, really. Pogačar clinched his fourth title with a massive 4:24 lead over Jonas Vingegaard. If you followed the race from the start in Lille, you saw the "Big Four" hype slowly dissolve into a one-man show. Even Vingegaard, a two-time winner himself, basically admitted after the La Plagne stage that the gap was just too wide to bridge.
The Tour de France final standings that redefined the podium
The top of the leaderboard looks familiar, but the gaps tell the real story. Usually, you're looking for seconds. This year, we were counting minutes. Here is how the general classification shook out at the very end:
Tadej Pogačar took the top spot with a total time of 76h 00' 32".
Jonas Vingegaard finished second, trailing by 4:24. It’s a respectable margin, but in the world of elite cycling, it’s an ocean.
The real shocker? Florian Lipowitz. The 24-year-old German from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rounded out the podium in third place. He was 11:00 back, but for a guy who wasn't even on most people's radar for a podium spot, it was a massive career-defining three weeks.
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Oscar Onley from Team Picnic PostNL stayed gutsy to take fourth (+12:12), while Felix Gall took fifth for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale (+17:12).
The rest of the top ten was a mix of grit and survival. Tobias Halland Johannessen took sixth, followed by Kevin Vauquelin, who became a French hero over the three weeks. Primoz Roglic, who had a rough start with a 39-second loss on stage one, clawed back to eighth. Ben Healy and Jordan Jegat finished off the elite list.
Beyond the yellow: Who took home the other jerseys?
Cycling isn't just about the yellow jersey. Sometimes the most interesting battles happen for the green and the polka dots.
Jonathan Milan absolutely dominated the points classification. He ended with 372 points, leaving Pogačar and Biniam Girmay in his dust. Milan was a beast in the sprints, avoiding the chaos that took out guys like Jasper Philipsen early on.
Speaking of the polka dots, Pogačar took those too. Because why not? He finished with 119 points in the Mountains classification, narrowly beating Vingegaard’s 104. Usually, a breakaway specialist snags this, but Pogačar was winning mountain stages so frequently that the points just naturally fell into his lap.
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Florian Lipowitz didn't just get a podium; he took home the white jersey for the best young rider. He beat Oscar Onley by a mere 1:12 in that specific category, which was actually one of the tightest competitions in the whole race.
Visma-Lease a Bike won the team classification. Even though they couldn't get Vingegaard the win, their collective depth was unmatched.
What really happened on the road to Paris
The first week was pure carnage. Stage one in Lille saw crosswinds and crashes that immediately put Remco Evenepoel and Roglic on the back foot. Filippo Ganna, a huge favorite for the time trials, had to abandon the race after just 52 kilometers. It was brutal.
Pogačar’s real "statement" moment wasn't in the high Alps, though. It was the mountain time trial from Loudenvielle to Peyragudes. He scorched that 10.9 km climb in exactly 23 minutes. Vingegaard lost 36 seconds in just that tiny window. That was the moment most of us realized the race was essentially over.
There was a weird bit of drama on Bastille Day, too. Ben Healy actually held the yellow jersey for a bit, which was a fun distraction, but Pogačar took it back and never looked at it again.
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Why the 2025 results matter for 2026
We're seeing a shift. The era of the "Big Four" is kinda turning into the "Big One and Everyone Else." Pogačar is 26. He’s won four Tours. He’s matching legends like Merckx and Hinault in terms of pure dominance.
If you're looking at these standings and wondering where the competition went, look at the crash list. Philipsen out. Ganna out. Evenepoel struggling with rib pain after stage three. To win the Tour, you don't just have to be the fastest; you have to be the luckiest.
Moving forward: What to do with this info
If you're a fan or a bettor looking toward the next season, don't just look at the names. Look at the margins.
Keep an eye on Florian Lipowitz. His jump from a domestique-style role to a podium finisher is the biggest takeaway for the 2026 season. Teams will be headhunting him.
Check out the stage replays for the Mûr-de-Bretagne and Mont Ventoux. Those are the blueprints for how Pogačar breaks his rivals. He doesn't just ride away; he waits for a moment of hesitation and then explodes.
Analyze the equipment changes. A lot of the talk in the paddocks was about the 1x drivetrain setups used in the mountain time trials. Technical edges are becoming as important as leg power.
The 2025 Tour was a masterclass in clinical cycling. It wasn't always "exciting" in the traditional sense because of how much Pogačar controlled the narrative, but as far as athletic feats go, we just watched history.