![Tadej Pogacar - Tadej Pogacar bounces back with stage win as Jonas Vingegaard all but seals Tour de France title](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cycling/2023/07/22/TELEMMGLPICT000343550570_16900393197690_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Tadej Pogacar bounces back with stage win as Jonas Vingegaard all but seals Tour de France title
![Tadej Pogacar - Tadej Pogacar bounces back with stage win as Jonas Vingegaard all but seals Tour de France title](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cycling/2023/07/22/TELEMMGLPICT000343550570_16900393197690_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Tadej Pogacar outsprinted Jonas Vingegaard to victory on stage 20 of the Tour de France in Le Markstein, but it was the Dane who could begin celebrating the defence of his title ahead of Sunday’s procession into Paris.
Pogacar proved unable to challenge Vingegaard for the yellow jersey in the final week of this race as his hopes evaporated in the Alps, but he made a point on the final mountain test as he beat Vingegaard in a five-man sprint at the end of the 133km stage from Belfort.
Felix Gall snuck ahead of Vingegaard for second place on the day, while Simon Yates and Adam Yates came in fourth and fifth, results that seal third overall for Adam and see Simon move up to fourth after Carlos Rodríguez was left bloodied above his left eye following a nasty early crash.
Pogacar’s stage win earned him six bonus seconds over Vingegaard, who will carry a lead of seven minutes and 29 seconds on to the Champs-Elysees on Sunday.
The front five came to the line 33 seconds ahead of Warren Barguil and Thibaut Pinot, who had dared to dream that the final mountain stage of his final Tour de France – raced on home roads for the 33-year-old – could end in victory when he went clear from a breakaway with 30 kilometres left.
But he was reeled in first by Tom Pidcock and Barguil on the final climb and then overhauled by those who would go on to contest the stage.
Pogacar, Vingegaard and Gall opened up a small gap before the Yates twins rode back up, with Adam then providing the lead-out for team-mate Pogacar in the sprint.
“Today I finally feel like myself again,” Pogacar said. “It was just really good from start to finish, to feel good again after many days suffering and to pull it off in the finish I’m just super, super happy.
“Adam did a super job. I was waiting for him to come back and his brother again was super good. I know him now well, he led me out really good and thanks to him it was a bit easier to prepare for the final, less nervous and I’m super happy the team did such a great job once again.”
Adam Yates said: “For me personally third [overall] is the best result I’ve ever had in a grand tour so obviously I’m pretty happy. We’re a little bit disappointed as our goal was to get yellow, but in the end there was only one guy better than us.”
That one guy was Vingegaard. For the first two weeks it was one of the closest Tours in history, but in the space of two days a 10-second advantage became seven-and-a-half minutes as Pogacar stumbled in Tuesday’s time trial, then fell completely on the col de la Loze on Wednesday.
There had been questions over Pogacar’s form before the Tour given his lack of racing since he broke his wrist in April, but Vingegaard has not won purely by taking advantage of his rival’s troubles, as shown by the near 11-minute gap to Adam Yates in the overall standings. PA
Tour de France, stage 20: As it happened. . .
Pogacar is back in the game
“Today I finally feel like myself again,” Tadej Pogacar said in his post-race inteview. “It was just really good from start to finish, to feel good again after many days suffering and to pull it off in the finish, I’m just super, super happy.
“Adam did a super job. I was waiting for him to come back and his brother again was super good. I know him now well.
“He led me out really good and thanks to him it was a bit easier to prepare for the final, less nervous and I’m super happy the team did such a great job once again.”
Adam Yates said: “For me personally third [overall] is the best result I’ve ever had in a grand tour so obviously I’m pretty happy. We’re a little bit disappointed as our goal was to get yellow but in the end there was only one guy better than us.”
Pogacar wins stage 20 at the Tour de France
He has done it. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) gets the better of Felix Gall (Ag2r-Citroën) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) to win stage 20 at the Tour.
The UAE Team Emirates man was led out perfectly by Adam Yates before he opened up his sprint. Gall and Vingegaard responded, but neither were able to match him. Gall may rue the amount of work he did on the final climb, but it was a great result for the Austrian. Despite missing out on a mountain stage at this year’s race, the Jumbo-Visma rider should sleep easy tonight after all but sealing the general classification. On Sunday evening, the Dane will win his second Tour title.
1.5km to go
Adam Yates rides on the front, his team-mate Tadej Pogacar tucked in on his wheel. Simon Yates is at fifth wheel. Having won the opening stage in Bilbao three weeks ago, a victory today for Simon would be the perfect way for the Yates family to bookend what has been an incredible Tour for the Lancastrians.
7km to go
Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar and Felix Gall have crested the final summit of the day, but the road continues to rise. There are a few little kickers incoming. There are also a pair of Yates brothers closing in – just 12sec off the pace. Simon Yates, by the way, has moved up to fourth in the virtual general classification.
8km to go
Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar are shadowing each ether, as they inch their way towards the summit. Felix Gall is riding on the opposite side of the road to the pair, does he think he can beat these two heavyweights of world cycling? He won the queen stage earlier this week, so why not?
10km to go
Felix Gall continues to ride hard on the front, not sure why he’s doing so much work. He’s over three minutes down on Jai Hindley on general classification, and if he carries on like this may not have any legs left once the road goes over the top of the col du Platzerwasel.
11km to go
Felix Gall is doing the lion’s share of the work here, pulling Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard onwards and upwards towards the col du Platzerwasel. The trio now lead the stage after Warren Barguil and Tom Pidcock were dropped. Simon Yates, meanwhile, has clipped off the front of what was the chasing group and he is in pursuit of the stage leaders. He could be thinking about the stage win, while also moving up the general classification to move behind his brother Adam.
15km to go
Warren Barguil, Chris Harper and Tom Pidcock appear to have gained a handful of seconds on stage leader Thibaut Pinot. The local lad has also lost a few seconds to the maillot jaune, but he is onto the final climb of the day, the category one col du Platzerwasel. Pinot is around 7km from the summit – the last climb of this year’s Tour – after which there will be a rolling run-in to the finish line.
25.3km to go
Over the top of Petit Ballon goes Thibaut Pinot. He has a 35sec lead over Warren Barguil, Chris Harper and Tom Pidcock ahead of a tricky descent. Pidcock, of course, is a mean descender while Pinot less so. Pinot, however, will know every twist, turn and centimetre of asphalt intimately given he is on his home roads.
26km to go
Chris Harper has latched onto the coattails of Warren Barguil and Tom Pidcock. The trio are 32sec off the pace of stage leader Thibaut Pinot, while back in the bunch Wilco Kelderman has taken over chasing duties on behalf of his Jumbo-Visma team leader Jonas Vingegaard. The maillot jaune has not gained a single second on a dogged-looking Pinot.
30km to go
Thibaut Pinot has clipped off the front, the Groupama-FDJ man was followed briefly by team-mate Valentin Madouas. The French national champion, though, sat up as Tom Pidcock and the rest of that small group caught back up. Pinot’s advantage has grown out a little. The crowds at the roadside are insanely big, and it feels like every single one is cheering on the soon-to-be full-time goat farmer.
32km to go
The leading group has whittled down to six riders: Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Chris Harper (Jayco), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) have 1min 15sec on the maillot jaune. Marc Soler is sat on the front of the chasing group, grimacing as he empties his tank on behalf of his team-mates.
36km to go
The local villages are en fête, huge numbers cheering on Thibaut Pinot. Willing, dreaming and praying that their local hero can bow out in style, by adding a fourth stage win to his palmarès. Arthur Vichot, a former team-mate of Pinot’s was just interviewed by Eurosport at the roadside where he was describing his love for Pinot. It was all very lovely and emotional.
42.5km to go
Today’s stage is whizzing by. The leading group is working well together, flying down the descent en route to the penultimate climb of the day, the category one Petit Ballon. The maillot jaune is just 1min 15sec down, so it looks like Jonas Vingegaard or Tadej Pogacar may be thinking of launching an assault somewhere soon. But look at what’s on the menu. . .
Ciccone all but seals mountains jersey
After dropping to towards the rear of the group of stage leaders, Giulio Ciccone attacks from behind before setting off for the line atop the category three col de la Schlucht. Unchallenged, the Lidl-Trek rider adds another two points to his account. Fully aware of the situation, Ciccone punches the air in celebration before getting on the radio to his team car. Ciccone will become the first Italian since Claudio Chiappucci in 1992 to take home the spotty jersey.
56.5km to go
Thibaut Pinot rolls through to the front of the leading group, the Frenchman’s head nodding violently, left to right. He will know his legion of fans will be watching intently, so suspect he’s loving putting on a show here. But this climb is all about Giulio Ciccone who will all but seal the mountains classification jersey in around 2.5km. Providing the Italian takes maximum points, and completes this and tomorrow’s stage in the time limit then he will take home the maillot à pois.
Merci Thibaut!
The fans are out in force, and they are buzzing at the prospect of their local hero Thibaut Pinot possibly challenging for the stage win this afternoon.
60km to go
Just hearing that Sepp Kuss, who went down heavily earlier, is over a minute behind the vast majority of his team-mates who are alongside their team leader Jonas Vingegaard. Carlos Rodríguez, however, managed to regain contact with the main protagonists and so Ineos Grenadiers will be buoyed by that. Remember, they also have Tom Pidcock in the leading group.
62km to go
Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), the French national road race champion, has bridged over to the leading group along with Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost) and Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich). That trio joined forces with Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny), Chris Harper (Jayco), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Axel Zingle (Cofidis). That 10-man group now leads the maillot jaune by 54sec.
70km to go
Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) is riding like he was in the Basque Country three weeks ago, sat on the front of the peloton doing a huge effort. Tucked in behind him are the Jumbo-Visma squad who will be hoping to set up the maillot jaune today. Despite having won this week’s time trial, Jonas Vingegaard has not taken a mountain stage so this would be the cherry on the cake for the Dane.
Ciccone on course for mountains jersey
By my calculation, providing Giulio Ciccone takes maximum points atop the next two climbs – the category two col de Grosse Pierre and category three Col de la Schlucht – and Felix Gall or Jonas Vingegaard do not take any, he will seal the mountains classification today.
76km to go
Over the top of the col de la Croix des Moinats goes Giulio Ciccone, adding another five points to his tally in the mountains classification. Yet again, the Italian is guided to the summit by team-mate Mattias Skjelmose, the winner of last month’s Tour de Suisse. The maillot jaune is just 25sec down the road.
80km to go
The breakaway has splintered as it inches up the category two col de la Croix des Moinats. The maillot jaune is just 25sec down the road. For the moment Giulio Ciccone will be happy enough to be at the pointy end of the race, but with Jonas Vingegaard looming he may be a little worried about keeping his polka-dots.
That breakaway in black and white . . .
Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Axel Zingle (Cofidis). And that 15-man group leads by around 20sec.
90km to go
Sepp Kuss looks pretty bashed up, the Jumbo-Visma mountain domestique has been getting further medical help and has had the area around his left eye bandaged up. Carlos Rodríguez has a few team-mates alongside him now, while Jonas Vingegaard has, I think, been asked to drop back out of the leading group.
95km to go
Sepp Kuss is back at the race doctor’s car getting some attention to his right elbow. It looks as if the American may have also hit the deck. There are a few splits in the peloton, with a group – that includes the maillot jaune – of around 19 riders up the road with alead of around 17sec.
Rodríguez crashes!
Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), who started the day fourth on general classification, has had a spill after losing his front wheel on a left-hand corner. He appears to have cut his left elbow, has blood pouring from his left eye and looks pretty shaken up. As it stands, the young Spaniard who has been very impressive on his Tour de France debut, has just one team-mate for company.
105km to go
As soon as the riders went over the summit of Ballon d’Alsace, Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) put in a little attack, but the former Tour of Flanders winner failed to gain much of a gap. Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) was the next man ta take the lead, with the demon descender showing the rest a clear pair of heels on what looks like a lovely downhill stretch of road.
109.5km to go
Having been delivered to the summit by his Lidl-Trek team-mates, Giulio Ciccone attacks 150 metres from the top before flying over the line to add another five points to his tally. Mattias Skjelmose is second, with Dylan van Baarle (Jumbo-Visma) third. Mads Pedersen takes fourth spot to deny Jonas Vingegaard a point. Teamwork.
110km to go
Jonas Vingegaard, Adam Yates and all of the hitters are riding close to the front of the stage. Interesting. Suspect that will make Giulio Ciccone very nervous, he will not want a hungry Vingegaard to go off scooping up valuable points in the race for the mountains jersey. %00 metres from the summit.
112.5km to go
Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) and Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) attacked off the front, before a counter-attack saw Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Giulio Ciccone, Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) and a couple of others take the lead. Just moments later, the peloton closed the gap.
114km to go
Victor Campenaerts has had his wings clipped by the peloton. The popular Belgian has been subsumed by the peloton around 4.5km from the summit of the category two Ballon d’Alsace. Just heard Steve Cumming talking over team radio, and the Ineos Grenadiers directeur sportif was saying that he had heard that UAE Team Emirates were desperate for the stage win this afternoon. While it would be easy to think Tadej Pogacar will be their main man, could Rafal Majka be given the freedom to roam as payback for all of his hard work over the last three weeks?
117km to go
Matteo Trentin shifts towards the front of the peloton, sharing the workload with 2019 world champion Mads Pedersen. Are UAE Team Emirates thinking, or at least hoping, that Tadej Pogacar can challenge for the stage win? Pedersen, I think it is safe to assume, is working for his Lidl-Trek team-mate Giulio Ciccone.
119km to go
Victor Campenaerts is starting to look laboured as he rides a fairly big gear, not entirely sure what he is doing today but he appears to be enjoying himself. His lead over to peloton has dropped significantly to a shade below 20sec.
120km to go
The road has started to pitch up, hitting the lower slopes of the category two Ballon d’Alsace where the first rider over the top will add five points to his mountains classification account. Jasper De Buyst loses the wheel of Victor Campenaerts, while back in the bunch a few splits have appeared. Giulio Ciccone is looking twitchy, marking every move.
126km to go
Victor Campenaerts and Jasper De Buyst have extended their advantage over the peloton to 45sec. Lidl-Trek, as expected, have big numbers on the front, monitoring the two stage leaders on behalf of Giulio Ciccone. They will not want Campenaerts or De Buyst going over the first climb of the day, the category two Ballon d’Alsace, ahead of Ciccone. The Italian will want to add as many points to his account in the mountains classification as early as possible.
130km to go
Victor Campenaerts and Jasper De Buyst have gained around 25sec on the peloton, but the road will start rising soon where the breakaway specialist and sprinter may be caught. But then again, following Campenaerts’ exploits over the last few days, who knows?
Pinot’s last stand
Probably should have mentioned – or reminded you – that this will be Thibaut Pinot’s final mountain stage in the Tour. The popular Frenchman will retire at the end of the season, after which he is planning to stay at home with his goats.
And they are off . . .
Having pedalled through short and relatively short neutralised section, race director Christian Prudhomme has reached KM0 where he stood up out of the sunroof of his shiny red Skoda before dropping the flag to signify that stage 20, the penultimate from this year’s race, is very much under way. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) is sat on Prudhomme’s bumper, while UAE Team Emirates are well represented. Apparently, the temperature is perfect for racing, around 24C with a cross tailwind at the start, so we can expect a rapid start to proceedings.
Stage 20 preview
Hello and welcome to our live rolling coverage from stage 20 at the Tour de France, the 133.5 kilometre run from Belfort to Le Markstein Fellering.
As you can see from the above profile, six categorised climbs pepper the short, but very punchy, stage. With a maximum of 37 points up for grabs in the mountains classification, I think it is safe to say that today will be a day in which those hoping to win the maillot à pois, the polka-dot jersey worn by the competition’s leader.
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) currently leads that classification, closely followed by Felix Gall (Ag2r-Citroën) while Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), the overall leader of the Tour, sits third in the race for the spots. Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), who wore the jersey for almost two weeks, is not mathematically out of the picture, but one suspects he will not be be getting the better of Ciccone who has ridden with focus and aggression over the last week.
While the overall winner of the Tour is all but sealed, any general classification battles this afternoon will most likely be around positions below the podium. Adam Yates, team-mate of second-placed Pogacar, appears assured of taking third overall which would represent the best finish for the Briton at the Tour. The 30-year-old, however, will be looking over his shoulder at Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and his brother Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula) who appear to pose the biggest threat to him taking third spot on the podium in Paris on Sunday.
However, today will represent the final opportunity for many riders to challenge for a stage win and so I expect there will be an almighty fight to get into a breakaway. Do not be surprised to see Thibaut Pinot or his Groupama-FDJ team-mate David Gaudu to throw the dice one last time, while Simon Yates, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) or Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) may also have a crack. In truth, there could be a breakaway of 20+ riders, and I’m expecting complete chaos.
Whatever happens, Telegraph Sport will be here to guide you through all of the key moments, from start to finish. Racing will get under way at 12.45pm (BST).