Strava stats confirm Pogacar's dominance beyond the yellow jersey

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) secured 362 Strava King of the Mountains (KOM) records whilst on his way to winning his fourth Tour de France, accounting for around one-fifth of the record 1,809 new segment bests that were set during the 2025 edition, exceeding last year's tally of 1,770. During the course of the race, Pogačar added plenty of iconic climbs to his virtual trophy cabinet. 

The Slovenian's victory on stage 12 in the Pyrenees not only marked a major step towards securing the yellow jersey, but Pogačar also claimed the KOM for the Hautacam climb, writing the wrongs of three years earlier, where he was put to the sword by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike). Though he secured the stage win and the Strava KOM, he didn't surpass the time set by Bjarne Riis's official record time from 1996.

Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) may have won stage 18's Alpine queen stage atop the Col de la Loze, but it was once again Pogačar donning the yellow jersey who claimed the KOM at the summit of the mighty climb, as he further extended his race lead over Vingegaard after distancing the Dane in the sprint to the line. 

The World Champion's most notable achievement came on Mont Ventoux, the 20.7 kilometre bald mountain with a brutal average gradient of 8.3%. Pogačar completed the Strava segment of the climb, which totalled 20.74km in a time of 53 minutes and 47 seconds, smashing the previous best time by over five minutes. It also marked the official fastest ascent of the climb as well, smashing the record set in 2004 by Iban Mayo, illustrating the supremacy of Pogačar.

It wasn’t just his speed that stood out. Pogačar received nearly 2 million 'Kudos', Strava’s version of a like, during the race. His activity from stage 2 to Boulogne-sur-Mer, where he finished second on the stage in the uphill sprint behind Mathieu van der Poel, was the most 'Kudos’d' upload of the summer, with over 118,000 reactions.

The 2025 Tour proved to be the fastest in the race's history, with an average speed of 42.849km/h, which significantly contributed to the unprecedented number of KOMs set during the race. Stage 9 into Châteauroux, won by the European champion Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), was the second fastest recorded in Tour de France history, averaging 50.013km/h across 174.1km.

Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious), the second youngest rider on the startlist, had a very eventful race, locked in a battle for the polka-dot jersey, ultimately finishing third in the mountains classification behind Pogačar and Vingegaard. He was also penalised for a sticky bottle incident on stage 18, but his combative performance throughout the three weeks saw the 22-year-old French climber earn a bucket load of KOM segments, 126 in total. 

Another home-rider who animated the race across the three weeks in the breakaways was the current French time-trial champion, Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). Featuring in the breakaway on five different stages, Armirail picked up 80 KOM segments, whilst Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), who was one of the stars of the race, finishing 4th on GC, and lifting his team clear of the relegation battle, claimed 72 segments.