Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark looks certain to win his second successive Tour de France title after keeping a close eye on his main rival, Tadej Pogacar, in a final, emotional mountain ride of the race.
Two-time Tour winner Pogacar, whose title hopes evaporated when he was crushed by Vingegaard in Tuesday’s time trial and then cracked in Wednesday’s last Alpine stage, claimed victory in the 20th stage on Saturday.
The Slovenian outsprinted Austria’s Felix Gall at the end of a 133.5km stage from Belfort to Le Markstein, his second win in this year’s race.
Local hero Thibaut Pinot, 33, meanwhile, gave his all in his last mountain effort as he rode on his training roads with thousands of fans cheering him on with flags, beer and flares.
Overall, Jumbo-Visma rider Vingegaard leads Pogacar by seven minutes and 29 seconds, with his United Arab Emirates teammate, Briton Adam Yates, in third, 10:56 off the pace.
“I’m so happy to win my second Tour, it was the big goal of my season. It’s really amazing, I want to thank my team, they’ve done so well and it’s really nice that I could finish it off,” Vingegaard told a news conference.
“The Tour de France is something so special, I’ll probably try to win it again next year.”
Vingegaard built his success on a supersonic time trial and benefited from Pogacar’s spectacular failure on Wednesday’s toughest stage on the Col de la Loze, but the Slovenian vowed to come back next year, too.
“It’s 90 per cent sure that I will be back next year to try and win it,” said the 24-year-old, who will claim the white jersey for the best under-25 rider for the fourth year in a row.
“I won the white jersey and two stages and Adam won a stage and wore the yellow jersey. It’s a good Tour,” Pogacar, whose preparations were hampered by a wrist fracture in April, added.
Italian Giulio Ciccone secured the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification and Belgian Jasper Philipsen is set to win the green jersey for the points classification, providing that they both cross the finish line in Paris on Sunday.
“After such a hard week I felt like myself on the bike today. I was feeling great. I tried to go solo, but I could not so it had to be a sprint,” said Pogacar, who had set his sights on Saturday’s stage in the Vosges mountains after this week’s disappointment.
Pogacar attacked on the last climb of the day, the Col du Platzerwasel, and was followed by Vingegaard and Gall.
The trio quickly caught Pinot, fellow Frenchman Warren Barguil and Briton Tom Pidcock, but dropped them before battling it out for the stage win after being rejoined by the Yates twins, Simon and Adam.
Pinot went solo on the ascent to the Petit Ballon, riding as stage leader through a sea of roaring fans like a man possessed. Although he did not have the legs to take it all the way to the line, the Groupama-FDJ rider finished seventh after a spine-tingling day on the bike.
“I really enjoyed it, I had a big pinch on my heart. It’s the roads where I train, it was crazy,” said Pinot, third in the 2014 Tour de France and by far the country’s most popular rider.
Pinot, who will end the Tour 11th overall after finishing fifth in the Giro d’Italia, plans to end his career after riding the Giro di Lombardia, the Monument classic he won in 2018.
Simon Yates is set to finish fourth overall after he leapfrogged Spain’s Carlos Rodriguez, who sustained cuts on his elbow and above his eyebrow, and a bruise on his chin when he crashed on a descent.
American Sepp Kuss, Vingegaard’s key lieutenant in the mountains, also crashed and slipped out of the top 10.