The phenomenon Tadej Pogacar puts the last piece towards winning his fifth Tour de France in his career and is now just waiting for the final catwalk. The UAE Emirates rider, after the impressive comeback on Friday, this time decides not to force his hand and settles for a fourth place at the finish line of the twentieth stage, 170.9 kilometers between Le Bourg-d’Oisans and Alpe d’Huez. “I had a really excellent Tour, as did the whole team. Some of our opponents, however, were unlucky. We made it as a team, and now we only have one last stage ahead of us – declares Pogacar – Without Van Aert, I have one less rival to beat on the Champs-Élysées. It’s not a goal, but if I have good legs, I’ll try to take the victory tomorrow too”, guarantees the Slovenian, who will therefore be chasing his 27th stage success at the Tour, the sixth in this edition. But once again Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) takes center stage, joining the breakaway for the third consecutive day with the aim of collecting points for the polka dot shirt.
The Ecuadorian, in addition to hitting the target, also took a fantastic stage success by taking advantage of the downhill fall of Sepp Kuss (Visma Lease a Bike), who was saved by the safety net. “For me it was a beautiful Tour, winning here with the polka dot jersey is incredible. I think I deserved it because I fought a lot. It was a dream Tour – says Carapaz, on his tenth victory in a major stage race, the third at the Grande Boucle – It was a very tough day. The first two big climbs made me spend a lot, but that’s where I thought of trying to win the stage. After the descent I found myself in front without knowing it, so I continued to push”, underlines the Ecuadorian. Excellent performance also by Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe) who, despite not achieving success, finished second in the stage (26 seconds behind Carapaz) and in the general classification. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates) can also celebrate as, with the constant support of Pogacar, he holds onto his white jersey as the best young player. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), however, definitively locks up the green jersey. The twenty-first and final stage is scheduled for tomorrow, the Thoiry-Paris (Champs-Elysees), which has been reduced from 133 to 89 km due to the fire emergency which forced the Ministry of the Interior to divert some of the agents elsewhere.