The Fifth Member of the Five-Title Club: Pogačar Crowned in 2026, Standing Alongside Four Legends at the Summit of the Tour de France

In July 2026, Tadej Pogačar once again pulled on the yellow jersey and stepped onto the podium at the Tour de France. This time, the significance was different from his previous four victories—this was his fifth Tour de France overall title, making him only the 5th rider in cycling history to win the Tour five times.

Before him, only four names were on that list: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain. These four men each represented a different era of cycling, from the 1950s through the 1990s, and Pogačar is the first to bring this club into the 21st century.

The Five-Title Club Members at a Glance

Five men, five nationalities, spanning nearly 70 years of Tour de France history. Interestingly, three of the five (Anquetil, Merckx, Indurain) packed their five titles into a dense peak period, while only Hinault and Pogačar had “gaps” in their five-title runs.

Pogačar’s Five Titles, with a Two-Year Gap in Between

Pogačar’s Tour de France story has not been a smooth ride. He won back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021, when he was just in his early twenties. Even more remarkable, in both years he simultaneously took the overall title, the King of the Mountains (polka dot jersey), and the Best Young Rider (white jersey)—the only rider in history to sweep all three jerseys in a single Tour, and he did it twice.

Then came 2022 and 2023, when he lost two years in a row to Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard, finishing as runner-up both times. For many, those two years are what truly defined Pogačar: he is not the kind of talent who sails through unchallenged, but someone who was genuinely beaten and then fought his way back.

In 2024, 2025, and 2026, he returned to the very top three years running, completing the five-title puzzle. On Stage 4 of the 2025 Tour, he also casually picked up his 100th career victory; by mid-2026, ProCyclingStats counted his career total at around 127 wins.

The Road to the 2026 Title

The 2026 Tour de France started in Barcelona, Spain, and was an unpredictable race from the very beginning. Pogačar ultimately took the overall title, along with 5 stage wins (S3, S6, S10, S14, S19):

• S3 Granollers → Les Angles
• S6 Pau → Gavarnie-Gèdre (over the Col du Tourmalet)
• S10 Aurillac → Le Lioran (French National Day, Bastille Day)
• S14 Mulhouse → Le Markstein-Fellering (solo attack on the 7.2 km climb of the Col du Hahnenberg)
• S19 Gap → Alpe d’Huez

Among these, S19’s Alpe d’Huez drew the most attention. According to Reuters’ timing, his summit time was 35 minutes 27 seconds, reported as a record-breaking performance, more than a minute faster than Marco Pantani’s old mark.

The final overall podium order was: Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel at 6 minutes 26 seconds, Isaac Del Toro at 9 minutes 42 seconds, and Paul Seixas at 11 minutes 56 seconds.

Can Five Titles from Different Eras Be Directly Compared?

This is the hardest question in any GOAT (Greatest of All Time) debate. Here are three angles worth keeping in mind for Taiwanese riders when chatting with fellow cyclists.

1. The Gap in Equipment and Technology

Anquetil rode steel frames, leather saddles, and down-tube shifters; Merckx’s era had no heart rate monitors, let alone power meters; Indurain’s 1990s saw the emergence of time trial bikes and aerodynamic concepts; by Pogačar’s generation, carbon fiber frames, electronic shifting, wind tunnel testing, real-time power data, and sports nutrition science are standard equipment. Comparing “absolute speed” across eras is almost meaningless—it’s like comparing today’s Wuling climb times to records from twenty years ago; the bikes, tires, roads, and nutrition are all completely different.

2. Race Density and Quality of Opposition

Tour de France route designs, stage lengths, and rest day schedules varied enormously across eras. Today’s professional peloton, with scientific training methods, has raised the overall level dramatically, and there are fewer “weak riders,” which means opening up time gaps has become harder; on the other hand, stages in the old days were often extremely long, and the toll on endurance and mental fortitude is hard to imagine today.

3. Dispersion of Goals

Merckx and Pogačar share one thing in common: they didn’t just ride Grand Tours. While winning five Tours, Pogačar has also accumulated 13 Monument victories, 2 World Championship gold medals (2024, 2025), and the Triple Crown in 2024. In contrast, Indurain’s later career was highly focused on Grand Tours. Behind the number “five titles,” the trade-offs each man made were completely different.

What This Means for Taiwanese Riders

Pogačar’s five titles bring a practical viewing reminder: don’t just look at who stands on the podium; look at how they won. The losses in 2022 and 2023 were precisely the turning point where he later adjusted his strategy and redistributed his season’s focus. This logic applies to our own riding as well—whether preparing for Wuling, Beiyi, or the Yangjin P-word mountain road, a result that falls short of expectations often provides more clues for adjustment than a smooth completion. Of course, training and preparation vary from person to person, and any adjustments should be made gradually and according to your own condition.

What’s Next?

With five titles tying the all-time record, it also means one more win would put him alone at the top. Pogačar was born in September 1998, turning 27 in 2026, and given the peak curve of modern riders, time is still on his side.

But the Tour de France has never been a race that goes “according to plan.” Evenepoel already claimed the runner-up spot in 2026 with two stage wins, and the new generation of Del Toro and Seixas is closing in fast. It took 70 years for a fifth man to push open the door to the Five-Title Club—will the door to a sixth title be even harder to open? That is the story most worth following in the coming years.

Related Reading

• Pogačar’s Fifth Title: 2026 Tour de France Overview, a Year Alongside Four Legends
• 26 Tour de France Stage Wins: Pogačar’s Harvest Route from 2020 to 2026
• What Can Taiwanese Riders Learn from Pogačar? The Transferable Parts of Attacking Riding and the Parts You Simply Can’t Copy
• The 2024 Triple Crown: The First in 37 Years, the Year Pogačar Wrote Himself into Cycling History