How Tadej Pogacar Got The Joy Back

PARIS — Every story has a beginning and an end, but the best stories have worthwhile middles.

Narrative stakes are established are established and then resolved.

It's what happens in between that makes a story.

This is where the greatest cyclist of all time currently finds himself.

Pogacar rode to his fifth Tour victory with an astonishing sense of joy.

The ennui that https://defector.com/tadej-pogacar-and-the-boredom-of-perfection">plagued his fourth Tour win has dissolved.

His greatest rival is https://defector.com/jonas-vingegaard-felled-yet-again-by-the-cruelty-of-his-sport">well behind him. The yellow jersey that weighed him down now buoys him.

There's nothing more for him to do as a competitor except rack up more records, a potentially paralyzing dynamic he's seemingly found a way to neutralize.

Pogacar has won five Tours de France, equaling four others who were all years older than Pogacar when they won their final Tour.

When I asked his director, Matxin Fernandez, what was different about this Tour, he was nearly moved to tears thinking about the accomplishment of getting to five. "Fuck, I mean, it's amazing," he grinned, apologizing for getting carried away. "It's like Hollywood.

I remember watching Indurain win his fifth [in 1995] and now Tadej has done it.

I'm so proud." So what was different this time around, and what lessons are there to be learned about how the rest of Pogacar's story might go?