Results Tour de France 2026 Stage 21 - Mathieu van der Poel triumphs in thrilling sprint finish as Tadej Pogacar wins yellow jersey

Mathieu van der Poel has completed a sensational Tour de France triumph to sprint away from Tadej Pogacar and hold off the sprinters in a photo finish on the Champs-Elysees in a thrilling finale to the 2026 Tour de France.

Tadej Pogacar has officially won the 2026 Tour de France, securing the yellow jersey in style after holding the jersey since stage 6. Remco Evenepoel has finished in second place while Isaac del Toro joined the podium in his Tour debut.

Richard Carapaz won both the King of the Mountains polka-dot jersey as well as the award for the race's most combative rider. Mads Pedersen's green jersey has also officially been confirmed as he earns the prestigious points classification victory for the first time in his career. Del Toro's third place also sealed the white jersey for best young rider ahead of Paul Seixas while Lidl-Trek took home the team's classification.

Ahead of the stage, organizers confirmed a new finale. Instead of riding into Paris, the stage would take place on the Paris circuit: six laps of the Champs-Élysées finish, followed by three laps of the Montmartre circuit and then returning to the finish. The total length was 88.1 kilometers.

With safety measures prepared for light rain in Paris, organisers ASO confirmed during the early stages of the race that times would be taken at 41 kilometers to go. In the opening ten kilometers of the stage, we saw the usual parade as different teams and groups of riders posed for pictures.

With 78 kilometers to go, a bike race broke out from the parade as UAE Team Emirates -XRG set the pace before the attacks began around the third passing of the Arc de Triomphe.

In true Tour break fashion, Baptiste Veirstroffer broke away from the bunch and established a solo breakaway for several kilometers as attackers tried to bridge across. Veistroffer dangled a handful of seconds ahead of the peloton until 60 kilometers to go after taking the intermediate sprint of the day.

Xabier Azparren and Thibault Guernalec were the first to build a big gap on the peloton as they pushed out a gap of 30 seconds with 51 kilometers to go. Their lead grew to 45 seconds as they hit the beginning of the three laps of the Montmartre circuit.Their lead plummeted as the peloton made the catch on the Montmartre climb as Mads Pedersen opened hostilities and the big hitters hit the front, including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogacar and Michael Matthews in a group of night riders with a small gap as the GC times were taken.

After the climb, Pogacar's leading group was caught by the peloton despite growing in size as attackers bridged across. Wider roads ensured more opportunities for regrouping after differences were made on the climb.

UAE and Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe jousted for control of pacing the bunch as it became clear that del Toro, Tom Pidcock, Juan Ayuso and Lenny Martinez had missed the peloton group racing the stage, regrouping behind simply to reach the finish line.As the second passage of Montmartre loomed, Red Bull drove a huge pace in the approach as the front group prepared for the penultimate climb, placing Remco Evenepoel onto Pogacar's wheel while Tim Wellens drove the first part of the climb.

Pogacar made his move as the yellow jersey hit the front with 27 kilometers to go, with van der Poel immediately following as Evenepoel failed to keep pace. Pedersen battled bravely in their wake just a few seconds behind as the race once again broke apart on the climb.

As Pogacar and van der Poel descended Montmartre, Evenepoel re-joined the pair with Pedersen also tagging onto the back with 24 kilometers to go. As Decathlon drove the chase behind, the four riders were brought back, setting up an intriguing finale as sprint teams hoped for a reduced bunch sprint.

The riders got the bell with 16 kilometers to go as UAE and Lidl-Trek drove the pace at the front. Soudal QuickStep, INEOS and Cofidis also emerged at the front ahead of the final Montmartre ascent as things heated up before the definitive climb. On the climb, Fred Wright looked impressive leading much of the climb before van der Poel and Pogacar shot to the front as the pair flew ahead.

They carved out a modest gap in the final 200 meters as they plunged down the descent with 10 kilometers remaining.Several riders followed in their wake as Jasper Stuyven, Victor Campenaerts, Jonas Abrahamsen, Matej Mohoric and Mads Pedersen fronted the main chase. Behind them, Decathlon led the pursuit to try and force a reduced bunch sprint - including Paul Seixas as he turned teammate.

Pogacar and van der Poel worked together to keep their gap as it floated at eight seconds with 6.5 kilometers on the clock, with the chasers behind all re-grouping. They held a gap of of 12 seconds on the remaining peloton of around 40 riders as the race returned to the Champs-Elysees.

At the Flamme Rouge, their gap was down to five seconds as it came down to the wire in Paris. Van der poel hit out with one last sprint as Pogacar gave up as the group surged behind.

But it was the Dutchman who gave everything to hold off the rest and take a sensational victory. A fitting finale to a thrilling Tour de France.