Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) is on course for overall victory in the Tour de France 2024 with his fifth stage win. After his impressive victory the day before on the mountain arrival at Isola 2000, he also won the finish on the Col de Cuillole. He joined Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) on the final metres, then stepped out of the Dane's slipstream and launched his attack. Because Vingegaard had previously worked in the wind, he was unable to parry Pogacar's attack and once again had to concede the stage win to the outstanding rider of the 2024 Tour de France. Third place went to Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost), who won the mountain classification on stage 20.
Pogacar the smiling winner
On the final climb, Soudal - Quick Step set the pace from the front of the peloton to attack with Remco Evenepoel. The aim was to put Jonas Vingegaard in trouble and attack for second place overall. Evenepoel attacked twice on the final climb, but Vingegaard parried twice without any problems. Then, five kilometres before the finish, it was Vingegaard himself who was able to attack and open up a gap to the Belgian.
As a result, Vingegaard was up and away and stormed towards the finish with Tadej Pogacar on his rear wheel. With 2.6 kilometres to go, the two riders caught up with the leading duo of Richard Carapaz and Enric Mas (Movistar). Carapaz was able to stay on the rear wheel of the two top riders in the classification until the final kilometre, but then a gap opened up. Pogacar rode in Vingegaard's slipstream the whole time until he launched his attack for the stage win shortly before the finish. In the end, he was the smiling winner of the competition between Vingegaard and Evenepoel. Vingegaard also consolidated his second place in the overall classification against Evenepoel, which he is likely to retain after the upcoming final time trial on stage 21.
"If someone had told me before the Tour de France that I would win five stages, I wouldn't have believed it. It's out of this world. Nevertheless, it wasn't that easy to beat Jonas Vingegaard today. He did a strong race." - Tadej Pogacar in the winner interview
Tour de France 2024: Results - the top 10 of the 20th stage
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 4:04:22
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:07
- Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) +0:23
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:53
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +1:07
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +1:28
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:33
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +1:41
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +1:43
- Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +1:52
Tour de France 2024: The current overall standings
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 82:53:32
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +5:14
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +8:04
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +16:45
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +17:25
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +21:11
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +21:12
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), +24:26
- Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +24:50
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +25:48
This is how the 20th stage of the Tour de France 2024 went
The penultimate stage of the Tour de France 2024 got off to a furious start: numerous riders launched attacks immediately after the start of the race to get into the day's leading group. Time and again, riders led by Sören Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) or Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost) were able to break away. Teams that were not represented in the breakaway groups plugged the gaps so that the speeds were frequently increased for all riders. The sprinters Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) therefore left the peloton early on and dropped back.
Classification riders attack
On the first climb, classification riders such as Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) attacked out of the peloton to take another chance to move up the classification. However, UAE Team Emirates was wide awake and closed the gaps that had opened up.
Breakaway group forms
Shortly before the first climb of the day, three riders managed to break away from the rest of the peloton: Enric Mas (Movistar), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) came together at the front, with the former snatching the first mountain classification of the day. Two chasing quintets formed behind the leading trio: the first included Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) and Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), while Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) were in the second.
Leading group expands
Shortly before the mountain classification at the Col de Turini, numerous riders from the chasing groups rode up to the front: The front of the peloton now consisted of ten men: in addition to Mas, Armirail and Kelderman, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Jasper Stuyven, Jan Tratnik (Visma | Lease a Bike), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Richard Carapaz, Romain Bardet and Tobias Johannessen were at the front. The leader in the mountains classification Richard Carapaz won the full 10 mountain points on the Col de Turini.
Soudal - Quick Step works in the peloton
In the peloton, not only UAE Team Emirates was responsible for the chase, but Soudal - Quick Step also kept the peloton on the move for a potential attack by Remco Evenepoel. The peloton gave the leaders a maximum of five minutes of breathing space, so it was possible that the classification riders could intervene in the fight for the stage win.
Carapaz wins the mountain classification of the Tour de France 2024
The race situation remained stable on the Col de Colmiane. Although riders around Marc Soler attacked in the leading group, the ten-man leading group remained together. Richard Carapaz once again took the mountain classification, thus securing victory in the special classification. He is uncatchable ahead of Tadej Pogacar at the top of the classification. Meanwhile, the breakaway's lead at the top of the climb was around three minutes ahead of the peloton with 37 kilometres to go.
Final ascent
After the subsequent descent, the race entered the climb to the Col de la Couillole. There Marc Soler was the first rider to have problems in the leading group and dropped back. A short time later, Kevin Geniets, Bruno Armirail and Jan Tratnik also had to let go. This meant that there were now six riders at the front, while Soudal - Quick Step continued to push in the peloton.
The finale
Enric Mas then attacked 11 kilometres before the finish. Richard Carapaz was immediately on the Spaniard's rear wheel, all the other riders had to leave a gap. Meanwhile, the gap to the yellow jersey group was 2:15 minutes. At this point, there were only six riders left: In addition to Vingegaard, Pogacar and Evenepoel, each of the top riders still had a helper. Evenepoel launched his first attack seven kilometres into the race, followed shortly afterwards by a second attack from the Belgian. Both attempts were parried by Vingegaard and Pogacar. Vingegaard then went on the offensive and distanced Evenepoel with Pogacar on his rear wheel.
The Vingegaard-Pogacar duo was unstoppable: 2.6 kilometres before the finish, they caught up with Mas and Carapaz. They first shook off Mas and then Carapaz one kilometre before the finish. The fresher Tadej Pogacar decided the final sprint in his favour and won the 20th stage of the Tour de France 2024.
