What more is there to say, really? Tadej Pogačar won, again; extended his lead, again. And he’ll probably do the very same tomorrow.
The last road stage was by no means easy with four categorised climbs on the menu, finishing with the Col de Couillole where Pogačar happens to have won before at last year’s Paris-Nice. The breakaway tried desperately to organise their own party, but the GC group had other ideas, though on this occasion it was Soudal-QuickStep who spoiled their fun as Remco Evenepoel tried to pounce on what looked like an ailing Jonas Vingegaard. Alas, the Dane rebounded somewhat after stage 19 and it was he who solidified his position in second place, as Pogačar celebrated his fifth stage win of the 2024 Tour, and his 11th Grand Tour stage win of the season.
- The first hour of the last road stage of the 2024 Tour was just as infernal as could be expected as the mountains tempted out one last chance for the breakaway, albeit with the looming threat of four-time stage winner (this Tour) and yellow jersey-wearer Pogačar.
- A number of configurations tried to get away as the gradients kicked up towards the Cat.2 Col de Braus, including what looked like most of the GC contenders in a ‘split in the peloton’. But eventually, the move of the day formed on the lower slopes of the Col de Turini, ten riders comprising a curious mix of opportunists and floundering GC outsiders, with a couple of domestiques for good measure: Wilco Kelderman and Jan Tratnik from Visma-Lease a Bike, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Enric Mas (Movistar), Romain Bardet (DSM-firmenich PostNL), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), who had a polka-dot jersey to protect from a marauding Slovenian.
- It was a strong group, and with Soler up front, there was a glimmer of hope that the UAE Team Emirates-led yellow jersey group might leave the breakaway to fight for the stage, but Soudal-QuickStep then picked up the pace setting on the second climb, and set about trimming the gap.
- The first big headline of the day came after the first couple of climbs were out of the way and Carapaz had been able to score enough points to mathematically secure the KOM classification – hallelujah! – which had been controlled by Pogačar from stage 11 to 19. Assuming he finishes tomorrow’s individual time trial, the Ecuadorian will pay another visit to the podium at what has been a pretty successful race for Carapaz: a day in yellow, stage 17 victory, and the polka-dot jersey.
- At the foot of the final climb, the Col de Couillole (15.8 km at 7.3%), the breakaway’s advantage was down to 2 minutes 50 seconds thanks to the efforts of Soudal-QuickStep, but in the first five kilometres of the ascent they were only able to take 20 seconds more from the leaders, as Mas and Carapaz left behind their companions.
- It was only when Mikel Landa – fifth overall and super-domestique for Evenepoel – hit the front of the now six-rider yellow jersey group that the gap to the two leaders began to tumble precipitously. Landa appeared to single-handedly gobble up a whole minute in just two kilometres.
- Then with 7 km to go and a one-minute-20-second gap to close to the front, Evenepoel made his first move.
- Vingegaard was ready for it, not even letting a bike’s length slip between them, and in no time the six riders were back together again and João Almeida made an ominous move to the front of the group and obliterated the remaining margin.
- With both Landa and Jorgenson finally dispatched by the UAE Team Emirates domestique who’s also fourth overall, Evenepoel attacked again. And this time, there was a little of daylight between his and Vingeeaard’s wheel, before the Dane made the catch.
- Then Vingegaard himself kicked, and kicked hard.
- Pogačar was glued to his wheel, but Evenepoel could not respond after his own efforts, and it was up to Vingegaard to protect his second place with aggression rather than defence.
- The GC top two caught up to Mas and Carapaz at the 3km-to-go banner, and the Spaniard soon dropped away, leaving Carapaz to desperately shadow the arch-rivals.
- Forever glued to one another, literally and/or figuratively, Pogačar and Vingegaard stayed together until 150 metres to go when the yellow jersey launched his sprint. Vingegaard could only watch him go as the yellow jersey disappeared up the last metres of the Col de Couillole for his fifth stage win of the Tour, also increasing his leading margin to 5:14.
- Evenepoel crossed the line fourth, 53 seconds down, and with bonus seconds factored in, he now trails Pogačar by 8:04, while Vingegaard has a two-minute-50-second buffer over the young Belgian before the ITT.
Stage 20 top 10:
Loading...
Current GC top 10:
Loading...
Quotes of the day
I enjoyed it very much. It didn’t go as we planned but I couldn’t be happier with it. Another stage win; I’m really happy. Just one more day, tomorrow it’s the time and I think I’m going to enjoy it as well.”
Pogačar said, with a glint in his eye as he looks to stage 21.
Romain Bardet was particularly emotional at the finish after landing 10th following a day in the breakaway. One of the most, if not the most articulate riders in the peloton, Bardet was far from speechless as he described what was going through his head in those last moments as he bids farewell to the race which has – sometimes reluctantly – defined the Frenchman’s career.
The train is passing, my story is ending.”
Bardet said through free-flowing tears at the finish.
Social highlights
Tour de France stage-win record holder Mark Cavendish successfully completed the final road stage of his final Tour alongside his three remaining teammates, Cees Bol, Davide Ballerini and Harold Tejada. The quartet had almost seven minutes to spare in their effort to beat the time cut, and Cavendish was visibly emotional as he crossed the line and thanked his Astana Qazaqstan teammates.
Brief analysis:
- Coming into stage 20, Evenepoel trailed second-place Vingegaard by 1:58 and after the latter’s apparent struggle and even concession on Friday’s stage 19, Evenepoel and his Soudal-QuickStep team appeared to smell blood, eyeing a time grab ahead of the final day’s time trial, for which the TT world champion is naturally uber-confident. His team’s efforts on the climbs and technical descents of the penultimate stage was one of the more impressive displays they’ve put on as a group this Tour. It was Soudal-QuickStep who took up the task of reeling in the breakaway, Mikel Landa in particular, but ultimately Evenepoel couldn’t get rid of Vingegaard on the final climb.
- It’s certainly not new, but it says a lot about the strength of the top GC teams that the GC top six contains two sets of duplicates: UAE Team Emirates owns the yellow jersey, Almeida in fourth and now Adam Yates in sixth as Carlos Rodríguez slips a place, though only by one second. And Landa’s efforts for Evenepoel on the final climb cemented both their positions in fifth and third respectively. Vingegaard too has a teammate further down the top ten, Matteo Jorgenson nestled with seventh Rodríguez, ninth Derek Gee and tenth Giulio Ciccone, all three of them outright leaders for their respective teams.
Up next
The Tour de France finishes with a 33.7-kilometre individual time trial from Monaco to Nice, which looks set to reward the GC riders once again. They will start with a climb up La Turbie (8.2 km at 5.7%) where the first timing point is located after 11 km, then cresting the familiar Col d’Eze before a fast descent to the coast, and a flat final 5 km to the finish on the Promenade des Anglais. It’s a very tough finale that will very likely see some reorganisation of the GC top 10, though the podium now looks set.
What did you think of this story?