Tadej Pogacar also won the twentieth stage of the Tour de France. In a race where he and UAE-Team Emirates were happy to see the stage win go to the breakaway riders, the battle for second place between Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel ensured that the yellow jersey was brought to the finish comfortably. Pogacar remained extremely passive, followed Vingegaard, and convincingly beat him in the sprint-à-deux, allowing him to secure his fifth stage win in this Tour with ease.
After Tadej Pogacar's stage win on Friday, the Tour peloton settled in Nice on Saturday morning, where they will also end the Tour de France on Sunday with a time trial. But a grueling mountain stage still had to be contested, with the climbs of Braus, Turini, Colmiane, and the finish on Col du Couillole ahead. Over four thousand meters of elevation gain spread over 133 kilometers.
Due to the traffic congestion around Nice, the stage in the hot South of France was delayed by twenty minutes, but as soon as we started, the men immediately went full throttle. EF Education-EasyPost made their intentions clear for Richard Carapaz’s polka dot jersey with an attack by Rui Costa and Neilson Powless. Meanwhile, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) suffered a puncture and was forced to chase the pack for the duration of the stage.
GC contenders struggle in opening phase
At the foot of Col de Braus, which is ten kilometers at 6.6 percent, there was still no breakaway, so the better climbers attacked uphill. Among them were Carapaz, and riders who were still well-placed in the overall classification. Nice resident Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) was the most active, provoking reactions from Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Adam Yates (UAE-Team Emirates) and even Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step).
This high tempo caused problems for some GC contenders. Sixth-placed Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) and eleventh-placed Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) faced a half-minute deficit on this first climb, making the race look like a junior competition. Meanwhile, Pogacar had plenty of time to play, even joking around with his fiancée Urska Zigart.
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Kelderman joins Carapaz in the breakaway
On the descent, the big names decided not to take risks, allowing Wilco Kelderman (Visma), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R) and Enric Mas (Movistar) to break away. Carapaz, Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Clément Champoussin (Arkéa - B&&B Hotels), Kelderman's teammate Jan Tratnik and Marc Soler (UAE) followed.
Rodriguez and Buitrago returned, but their moment of weakness was seized upon by some rivals. Ciccone and Gee attacked uphill again but were caught. Meanwhile, Carapaz’s group struggled to stay at the front, requiring a push on the Turini to get a select group ahead. They succeeded, albeit without Champoussin.
Carapaz secures polka dot jersey, Soudal-Quick step chases strong breakaway
On the Turini, a status quo was reached, with some persistent chasers catching the leaders. Local hero Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) joined the front group of ten. This gave Carapaz the perfect opportunity to secure crucial mountain points for his polka dot jersey.
After a rapid descent, it was time for the Col de la Colmiane, 7.5 kilometers at 7.1 percent. The leaders had a four-minute advantage, prompting Soudal-Quick Step to increase the pace for Evenepoel. Gianni Moscon maintained a strong pace, but Ilan Van Wilder reduced the gap to under three minutes. At the front, Kelderman, Tratnik, Soler and Bardet launched full-scale attacks.
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All-out effort on the final climb of the day
What followed after three climbs was the Col de la Couillole: 15.7 kilometers at 7.1 percent. The ten leaders began with a small three-minute lead on a significantly thinned peloton led by Van Wilder. Visma | Lease a Bike fully committed to Kelderman, with Tratnik setting the pace from the base of the climb. At twelve kilometers from the summit, Kelderman remained with Carapaz, Mas, Bardet, Johannessen and Soler. Among the favorites, INEOS leader Rodriguez quickly dropped off due to the Wolfpack's efforts. He was the first of the GC top ten to fall back.
And then everyone was waiting for an attack to happen. In the leading group, Mas made a move, with Carapaz being the only one who could keep up with the Spaniard. Among the favorites, the pace really picked up when Mikel Landa took charge for the last ten kilometers. Suddenly, only Pogacar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel, João Almeida and Jorgenson were left. The American of Visma | Lease a Bike was therefore in a position to make a serious move, with Rodriguez, Adam Yates, Gee, Ciccone and Buitrago already dropped.
Evenepoel countered by Vingegaard, Pogacar gets red carpet to fifth victory?
In the final six kilometers, the race heated up significantly. Carapaz attempted to distance Mas but was unsuccessful, and the situation was similarly challenging for Mas. Their lead over the main GC contenders had shrunk to just over a minute, thanks to Landa's efforts, an early tentative attack by Evenepoel, and then Almeida setting the pace for Pogacar. With five kilometers remaining and the gap holding at one minute, Evenepoel launched another attack. It lacked the necessary strength, something Vingegaard quickly capitalized on by countering the Belgian, leaving just him and Pogacar in the lead.
Pogacar appeared to have a prime opportunity for his fifth stage win, but initially hesitated when Vingegaard challenged him. As their gap to Mas and Carapaz narrowed to thirty seconds, Pogacar assumed command. Evenepoel seemed to concede, mentally preparing for Sunday’s time trial with his third place seemingly secure. The question remained: who would claim the solo victory? Carapaz and Mas rejoined the front-runners with 2.5 kilometers to the finish, but Mas couldn't sustain Vingegaard's tempo. As the trio approached the final kilometer poised for a sprint, it quickly became a duo. Carapaz fell back, leaving Vingegaard to push Pogacar into leading the final sprint-à-deux. Pogacar then surged ahead, effortlessly outpacing Vingegaard to clinch his fifth victory in this Tour de France.
Results stage 20 Tour de France 2024
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