TDF 2024: Stage 20: Pogacar Continues His Domination

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) took the win again on the Col de la Couillole making it his fifth stage win of the 2024 Tour de France with a powerful finish.

Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) dusted what was left of a breakaway over the

final kilometers, shredding Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) behind them on the way up the Couillole.

The Yellow Jersey accelerated in the final meters to beat his Danish rival to the line by 7”. Having confirmed his triumph in the Mountain classification, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) finished the stage third at +23” in his polka dot jersey and Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) crossed the line fourth, 53” off the winner Pogacar.

Going into Sunday’s final Monaco to Nice time trial stage Pogacar leads by 5’14” overall from Vingegaard, with TT specialist Evenepoel in third, now 8’04” from the leader.

Col de Braus brings three leaders
Less than 150 riders started in Nice today for the penultimate stage of the 2024 Tour. As expected, an

early break formed with Uno-X and EF Education Easypost teams. However, a breakaway group which included several members of the GC top 10 formed on the approach to the first climb of the Col de Braus, provoking an immediate counter attack from the top three in the GC.

After riders were back together at the front, polka dot jersey Richard Carapaz (EF Education Easypost) joined, not wanting to lose time. Then, Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R) and Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) escaped from the regrouped collective of leading riders, this time without provoking any reaction. They were quickly joined by Enric Mas (Movistar), with the Maillot Jaune group then following them without reaction, soon 55” behind.

Two counter attacks expand the breakaway
It was Mas who went over the Col de Braus first and on the descent a chasing group of Jan Tratnik

(Visma-Lease a Bike), Marc Soler (UAE Emirates), Richard Carapaz (EF Education First), Clement Champoussin (Arkea-B&B) and Romain Bardet (dsm -Firmenich) went after the three at the front, while spirits relaxed within the group of favorites.

The three leading men set off to attack the Col de Turini (Cat. 1, km 59.8) with a 35” lead over their closest pursuers and 2’00” over the peloton which had returned to a more traditional size for the start of a mountain stage. Although Champoussin was left behind, his previous companions caught the three leaders 9 km from the summit. Subsequently, three more chasers Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) and Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) increased the breakaway to 10 riders in total, 1 km from top of the Col de Turini. In the KOM jersey Carapaz was the first to reach the Turini summit, almost guaranteeing his triumph in that competition.

Intermediate sprint and more climbing
Stuyven was first at the Saint-Martin-Vesubie intermediate sprint (km 87.8), followed by Johannessen, Kelderman and Bardet, with the peloton arriving 3’50” after them, before the riders took on the Col de la Colmiane climb (Cat. 1, km 95.9). 7.5 km of ascending at an average gradient of 7.1% awaited, with Carapaz once again making it to the top first, demonstrating his climbing prowess and virtually sealing his victory in the KOM ranking, provided he simply finishes Sunday’s Stage 21 time trial. The peloton topped the penultimate climb of the stage 2’45” later.

Onto the Col de la Couillole
As the breakaway riders started the final Col de la Couillole climb (Cat. 1, km 132.8) they still had that 2’45” lead, but the group was soon decimated.

Mas and Carapaz attacked 11.4 km from the finish and only Bardet was able to follow them briefly, before the two went clear at the front. With just over 5km to go, Vingegaard attacked from a depleted GC group and Pogacar responded by sticking tightly to his wheel, while Evenepoel dropped behind. Pogacar and Vingegaard caught Carapaz and Mas 2.5 kilometers from the finish line and only Carapaz could follow the GC favorites, with Mas unable to take the pace. In the final kilometer it was only Pogacar and Vingegaard left to fight for the win, with the Slovenian proving strongest once again.