Slovenian Tadej Pogacar won the 20th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday at Markstein where Jonas Vingegaard, barring an accident, locked in his final victory and where Thibaut Pinot put on a show.
The Dane only has to finish the traditional parade on Sunday towards the Champs-Élysées in Paris to clinch his second consecutive title in the Grande Boucle with a 7’29” lead over Tadej Pogacar who beat him in the sprint at the Markstein.
After a superb stage in the Vosges, the two favorites arrived together with Felix Gall as well as the brothers Adam and Simon Yates in the last raid where Pogacar made the difference thanks to his punch to offer himself an 11th victory in the Grande Boucle looking like a consolation prize.
Because it is indeed Jonas Vingegaard, third in the stage, who must win his second coronation on Sunday, unless there is a very unlikely fall or accident. Pogacar, winner in 2020 and 2021, will be satisfied, like last year, with second place. The Slovenian will also have won two stages and once again the best young rider’s white jersey.
Very difficult, with six passes on the programme, the penultimate stage was enhanced by the performance of Thibaut Pinot on home soil.
For his last Tour de France, the Franc-Comtois spent the day at the front, offering himself the ultimate pleasure of passing alone in the lead to the top of the Petit Ballon, the penultimate ascent of the day, which thousands of supporters transformed into a Greek football stadium.
Unleashed, Pinot dropped his breakaway companions to capsize “the Pinot bend” where all his friends and kops of supporters had gathered to give him a dream jubilee and memories for life.
The Frenchman was then caught and then passed in the Platzerwasel, the last pass of his career on the Tour de France, where Pogacar and Vingegaard neutralized each other.
Pogacar waited for the last few meters to make the difference and win ahead of the Austrian Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën), also author of a superb Tour with in particular his victory in the queen stage in Courchevel.
