Richard Carapaz added to his Grand Tour tally on Saturday, winning a dramatic stage 20 of the Tour de France into Alpe d’Huez.
The EF Education-EasyPost rider had once again been part of the day’s breakaway which was down to just three riders as they reached the bottom of the day’s final climb, the Col de Sarenne, with 27km to go.
Having been distanced by Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) close to the top of the climb, the American crashed on the road into the finish Alpe d’Huez, Carapaz able to take advantage and his second stage in three days. Having won maximum points on three of the four classified climbs, Carapaz also sealed the mountains classification.
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Largely uninjured, Kuss held on gamely but was unable to hold off Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was third, just 26 seconds behind Carapaz. Kuss was third, a further five seconds down.
Evenepoel had been in a group with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG pair of Tadej Pogačar and Isaac Del Toro, neither of whom reacted when the Belgian attacked, at two kilometres to go.
Finishing in fourth place on the day, Pogačar all but cemented his fifth Tour de France overall victory on Saturday. The yellow jersey had worked for his team mate, Isaac Del Toro for most of the day and now needs only to finish Sunday’s shortened stage in Paris to seal the record win.
In a fantastic stage which waxed and waned all day, the race changed complexion both on the stage and the general classification. While the GC podium places remained the same, the time gaps did move, and Isaac Del Toro cemented his place in the best young rider’s jersey, just has his team leader did in yellow.
As with the general classification, the points and mountains classifications are also all but decided. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) won the day’s intermediate sprint, while Richard Carapaz won three of the day’s classified climbs, both men taking unassailable leads in their respective classifications, provided they finish in Paris on Sunday.
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