photo credits @ Le Tour
Tadej Pogačar’s (UAE Team Emirates) continued his dominance in this year’s Tour de France, after the Slovenian rider out-sprinted Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the top of the Col de la Couillole to claim stage 20 and take his fifth stage victory.
The duo had come to the top of the final climb alone, catching the day’s breakaway survivors Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) on the way to the line, with the Ecuadorian hanging on into the final kilometer before dropping
In the meantime, Soudal-QuickStep was hoping to move Remco Evenepoel closer to Vingegaard in the general classification, but the Belgian rider’s ambitions were thwarted when his Danish rival executed an attack heading into the final 5k, a move that was closely marked by Pogačar.
Race Highlights
The peloton gathered in Nice with 141 riders at the start line for the penultimate stage of the 2024 Tour. In the opening kilometers, it was the Uno-X and EF Education Easypost teams who took the initiative. However, a breakaway group which included several members of the GC top 10 formed on the approach to the first climb of the Col de Braus, provoking an immediate reaction from the top three in the general classification. A big Yellow Jersey group therefore counter counter-attacked from the peloton and brought things back together at the front, with the polka dot jersey of Carapaz not wanting to miss out on the party. Then, Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R) and Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) escaped from the regrouped collective of leading riders, this time without provoking any reaction. They were quickly joined by Mas, with the Maillot Jaune group then following them calmly, soon 55” adrift.
Two counterattacks expand the breakaway
It was Mas who went over the Col de Braus first and on the descent a chasing group of Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike), Marc Soler (UAE Emirates), Carapaz, Clement Champoussin (Arkea-B&B) and Romain Bardet (dsm -Firmenich) went after the trio at the front, while spirits relaxed within the group of favorites. The three leading men set off to attack the Col de Turini with a 35” lead over their closest pursuers and 2’00” over the peloton which had returned to a more traditional size for the start of a mountain stage. Although Champoussin was left behind, his previous companions from the cashing group caught the three in the lead 9 km from the summit. Subsequently, three more chasers Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) and Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) increased the breakaway to 10 riders in total, 1 km from top of the Col de Turini. In the KOM jersey competition, Carapaz was the first to reach the Turini summit, almost guaranteeing his triumph in that competition.
Intermediate sprint and more climbing
Stuyven was first at the Saint-Martin-Vesubie intermediate sprint, followed by Johannessen, Kelderman and Bardet, with the peloton arriving 3’50” after them, before the riders took on the Col de la Colmiane climb. 7.5 km of ascending at an average gradient of 7.1% awaited, with Carapaz once again making it to the top first, demonstrating his climbing prowess and virtually sealing his victory in the KOM ranking, provided he simply finishes Sunday’s Stage 21 time trial. The peloton topped the penultimate climb of the stage 2’45” later.
Onto the Col de la Couillole
As the breakaway riders started the final Col de la Couillole climb they still had that 2’45” lead, but the group was soon decimated. Mas and Carapaz attacked 11.4 km from the finish and only Bardet was able to follow them briefly before the two went clear at the front. With just over 5km to go Vingegaard attacked from a depleted GC group and Pogačar responded by sticking tightly to his wheel, while Evenepoel dropped behind. Pogačar and Vingegaard caught Carapaz and Mas 2.5 kilometers from the finish line and only Carapaz could follow the GC favorites, with Mas unable to take the pace. In the final kilometer, it was only Pogačar and Vingegaard left to fight for the win, with the Slovenian proving strongest once again.
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