Tour de France stage 20 Live – Break and GC favourites battle on final climb of Col de la Couillole

Carapaz rips it again, for one last time. He could look back and see the yellow jersey before launching that one. 

Evenepoel is 15 seconds back. 

Pogačar does a short turn but Vingegaard is soon back on the front. 25 seconds to the leaders and it’s hard to see anything but a fifth Pogačar stage win loading here. 

4km from the top and the leading duo have just 35 seconds in hand over the top GC duo! 

Pogačar sits in Vingegaard’s wheel. It looks like he is asked for a turn but that’ll be a no.

Evenepoel’s plan has backfired, but there was no shame or any real price to pay in trying. Vingegaard is a different beast to yesterday and he pushes on up the mountain.

Evenepoel is dropped! Wow.

Vingegaard responds well once more, and counter-attacks!!

Evenepoel attacks again!

Carapaz attacks now! Once again he backs off before hitting his rival with a huge out of the saddle surge.

5km to go now and the gap dips below the one-minute mark as Almeida continues the charge. Mas gives it a big acceleration but they’re losing ground now. 

Jorgenson is dropped from the GC group. 

Four left in there: Almeida, Pogačar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel. 

Almeida brings the gap down to 1:12 with just under 6km remaining.

Landa falls away and that must be music to the ears of Carapaz and Mas – who’s going to set pace now? Well, Joao Almeida, that’s who. The UAE man is setting a strong tempo and is he going to set this up for yet another Pogačar stage win?

Almeida, Jorgenson, and Landa come back as the trio ease up. Vingegaard looked good there – it doesn’t look like he’ll crack today. 

Vingegaard is immediately alive to it. Pogačar follows along and the trio are away. 

Evenepoel attacks!

The Belgian makes his move around 8km from the top.

Mas brings it back with apparent ease.

Carapaz attacks!

The polka-dot jersey drops off the wheel slightly then hits his rival with a huge acceleration.

90 seconds is the gap now half-way up this final climb, with 7.5km to the finish line at the summit. At this rate, the GC favourites will contest stage honours once again.

Landa’s turn has whacked the gap to the break down to 1:42. 

GC group in order: Landa, Evenepoel, Vingegaard, Pogačar, Almeida, Jorgenson. 

Landa is scorching this. Suddenly only six riders are left in the GC group!

Ciccone drops as well. 

Buitrago dropped from the GC group.

Immediate answer. Yes. Landa comes through for Quick-Step now. That’s Evenepoel’s last man.

The gap goes back out to 2:25. Is Hirt fading?

Just 12 riders left in the GC group. Still Hirt on the front. The gap is 2:15 with just over 10km to go. 

Bardet is dropped again as Carapaz and Mas open the taps again. 

The break is blown apart 11km from the top. Bardet is clawing his way back. 

Carapaz and Mas go clear!

Stuyven is finally dropped now. Just under 12km to the top.

Soler is back! Surreal.

Rodríguez is 6th overall, 1:42 ahead of Adam Yates (UAE), 4:16 up on Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), and just over five minutes up on Matteo Jorgenson (Visma) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek).

Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos) – who was in trouble from the very first climb – is dropped from the GC group. 

Tratnik pulls off the break. He has done a lot of work for Kelderman and he’s handing over now. 

20 riders are left in the bunch, and Hirt is really lifting it now. 

Van Wilder is done. Jan Hirt takes over for Quick-Step. Gap 2:45 now.

Tratnik is pushing the pace and Stuyven is still hanging on. Remarkable ride from the Belgian. 

Geniets is the next man distanced from the break. They’re not hanging about now. 

Van Wilder takes the peloton onto the final climb. Quick-Step still have two men left once he’s done.

Armirail is the first rider dropped from the break. Soler is back dangling off the back – and this time it doesn’t look like a bluff.

Final climb begins

The breakaway tick off the small section of flat and they now hit the Couillole. They do so with a lead of 2:55. Here we go! 

The Col de la Couillole was used in last year’s Paris-Nice, where Pogačar responded to an opening Vingegaard attack and then put him under big pressure before winning the final dash for the line at the top. He’d win three stages and the overall in that race but would bow to Vingegaard in the Tour de France later in the year. 

We’re just 5km away from the foot of the Col de la Couillole, which looks like this

Into the final 25km and the stage hangs in the balance. The final climb of the Col de la Couillole is long and tough and a big lifting of pace + attacks from the GC men could yet take this stage away from the breakaway, which will hit the final climb as a group of 10 but will surely split before long.

The breakaway are smashing this descent and their lead has grown back out to 3:15 over a peloton where Quick-Step aren’t wanting to take so many risks.

Van Wilder leads the peloton over the top of the climb for Quick-Step. They’ve brought the gap down to 2:45. This stage is very much in the balance. 

Mas takes over from Carapaz and attacks the descent. 20km downhill now before we take on our final climb.

Carapaz nudges forward, accelerates out of the saddle, and takes them over the top. He wants, but doesn’t need, the maximum KOM points, and while no one’s fighting him for them, this might be a little push of the pace to get things moving again.

Tratnik, who has Visma teammate Kelderman with him, pushes the break on in the final kilometre of the Colmiane. Loads of fans here.

Armirail gets back in as the pace eases again in the break. The bigger riders like Geniets and Stuyven are still here and their advantage comes down to 3:10.

Soler is quickly caught, but his attack as shed Armirail from the group. 

The Spaniard was fighting with the bike, desperately calling for his team car. He looked done. But he shoots out the front of the break. Comical stuff. 

Soler attacks!!

Epic bluffing.

2.5km to the top of the Colmiane for our breakaway and their advantage has been cut to 3:30. 

Soler is struggling slightly, dangling off the back of the break, which is otherwise still together. 

Ilan Van Wilder takes over for Quick-Step. He’s a strong climber and should lift the pace. Evenepoel also still has Jan Hirt and Mikel Landa in front of him.

Moscon still on the front as Quick-Step lead the peloton onto the climb. They’re 3:55 down so the gap has been stable enough for a while, but where will it go from here?

In the break the accelerations come almost immediately. Mas is keen here. Carapaz, Kelderman, and Bardet are up with him.

44km to go

We’re through the intermediate sprint and it’s something of an irrelevance here (Stuyven leads them through) but does mark the gate to the Col de la Colmiane. We’ve already been going uphill for a while, but here starts the official ascent of 7.5km at an average gradient of 7.1%

And here’s a shot of the peloton

Here’s Enric Mas on the front of the breakaway

A reminder that Evenepoel is 1:58 down on Vingegaard overall. He can reasonably expect to take some time back in tomorrow’s time trial but will need to deal a really heavy blow here to set that up. 

Yesterday he had Vingegaard suffering in his wheel all the way up to Isola 2000. Can he drop him today?

Moscon continues his turn and lifts it a little. The gap comes down to below the four-minute mark and it does indeed look like Evenepoel wants to take a pop at Vingegaard today.

A reminder of our stage profile. We’re on our way up to the green badge of the intermediate sprint. From there two tough climbs that will be familiar from recent editions of Paris-Nice. 

The answer to our previous question is that yes, Soudal Quick-Step are pressing on with this. They’re not doing damage on this false flat, but they’re still riding a solid tempo and the gap is stable at 4:25. 

Powless didn’t make it and now the road is tilting uphill he slips away. Back out to over a minute now and he blows a kiss to the cameras. Day done.

The road rises again as the descent ends and we begin the approach to the penultimate climb, the Col de la Colmiane. It’s a long uphill drag that’ll take us through the day’s intermediate sprint before we start the climb proper.

Quick-Step continue to lead the peloton as they head downhill. They’ve slipped back to 4:22, but we’ll see if they continue the effort onto the next climb.

Powless is making a good go of this descent. He has closed to within 35 seconds of the leaders. He doesn’t look to have his best climbing legs today but he could yet play a role for Carapaz. 

69km to go

Gianni Moscon leads the line of five Quick-Step riders on the front of the bunch as they head over the summit of the Col de Turini. They have brought the gap down to 4:11, so they’ve shaved off just under half a minute. 

We wondered whether Evenepoel might try and apply pressure on Vingegaard today, and he has certainly sent his men to the fore to make the last few minutes of this climb difficult. 

Change in the peloton. 

Soudal Quick-Step take over from UAE and raise the pace. They’re still 4:30 behind. 

No. Carapaz hits out with a little more eagerness now, not wanting to be burnt twice, but no one challenges him. Another 10 points added to his collection and that’s the polka-dot jersey sewn up beyond all doubt now. 

We’re nearing the top of the climb now. Carapaz is poised. Will Visma flick him again?!

And as I write that Champoussin suffers a mechanical. Curtains for him now, you’d think. 

Contact up front

Just over a kilometre from the top of the Col de Turini, Stuyven, Geniets, and Johannessen join the lead group to make it 10 out front. 

Powless is a minute back, Peters and Champoussin are now together at 2:30, and the bunch are at 4:45.

Stuyven, Geniets, and Johannessen continue to make inroads, and contrary to my earlier suggestions, it looks like they’ll join the leaders, who are riding within themselves for the time being. 

Tim Wellens is on the front for UAE and they’ve let another 10 seconds slip, but that’s not a lot in the space of 3km. They’re holding this at a distance in which it’s feasible the winner could still come from the peloton (ie Pogačar).

A nice shot of the hairpins on the previous climb, and you can make out the yellow jersey in what was an extremely fragmented group.

78km to go

In the chase group, Peters and Powless have been dropped. Johannessen nearly takes himself out as he half-wheels Stuyven, who apologises but is riding a hell of a race today. He’s not a climber but he’s looking very strong as he propels the group onwards. Geniets isn’t a climber either but is also looking very good. They’ve reduced the gap to the front to 1:15. 

Soler is contributing to the break. The final 6.5km of the Turini will tell us more but it looks like UAE might let this drift out. 

Soler is the one with the excuse to sit on here, as UAE lead the peloton, where they’re holding it at 4:30. 

An exchange of words between Tratnik and Carapaz, and now things do settle down, with Tratnik doing a more traditional turn and the others coming through now. 

There’s no cohesion in this newly formed lead group. Tratnik, who has been dragged up there by the others, launches an acceleration. 

Contact up front. 

As suggested the front two groups merge to make a lead group of seven. We still have a chase group in between but it’s unlikely they’ll come across and so it’s this seven versus the peloton at 4:30. 

83km to go

Half-way up the Col de Turini and UAE have let the front of the race out to four minutes – they could yet set this up for another Pogačar win but the rest of the climb will tell us more. 

Carapaz and Bardet are propelling the chase group to within 20 seconds of the leading trio. Tratnik, who has Kelderman up the road, is sandbagging there but they should make contact to form a lead group of seven. 

The second chase group – containing Powless, Stuyven, Peters, Johannessen, Geniets – is now more than two minutes back and doesn’t look competitive today. 

That group isn’t working too well together but they’re within 20 seconds of the front of the race now. 

The chase group is being pegged at 30 seconds from the front three, and that’s the cue for Carapaz to rip it up. Bardet follows him, Soler and Tratnik are briefly distanced, Champoussin is dropped. 

The race is settling down on the Turini. UAE are en masse on the front of what is now very much a peloton again.

Three separate breakaway groups out front. Let’s see if they come together and whether UAE definitively let them off the leash.

Things have eased off in the bunch now and we have new attacks: Powless, Johannessen, Geniets, Stuyven, Peters.

The situation on the lower slopes:

3-man breakaway – Mas, Armirail, Kelderman

5-man chase – Carapaz, Soler, Bardet, Champoussin, Tratnik – at 30 seconds

Yellow jersey peloton – at 2:25

Here’s a closer look at the Col de Turini

93km to go

And onto the Turini we go. It’s a cat-1 climb, measuring 20.7km at an average gradient of 5.7%.

We’re climbing again, albeit on an uncategorised drag that will take us onto the day’s second climb, the Col de Turini.

Five riders have managed to get away from the yellow jersey group on this descent: Carapaz, Bardet, Soler, Tratnik, Champoussin.

Rodríguez is back. 

The group containing Ineos’ GC leader comes back and the yellow jersey group swells to at least 40 riders. 

The three-man breakaway has reformed on this descent, with Armirail and Kelderman both linking back up with Mas. They have a minute over the yellow jersey group.

That Jorgenson move should get the tongues wagging. UAE made a peace offering to Carapaz but the American disrupted it for no apparent reason. He was denied a stage win yesterday by Pogačar’s eagerness, which triggered complaints from the Visma team management. Pure pettiness perhaps. 

The yellow jersey swelled to 25 riders towards the top of that climb, and it could well swell again on this descent. Rodriguez – 6th overall – isn’t far behind at the moment. Buitrago and Gall are other members of the top 15 overall who are with him.

Jorgenson nips through to deny Carapaz the maximum collection of points from that group. Not sure why – Jorgenson can’t win that competition.

The reduced yellow jersey group comes to the top almost a minute in arrears. Will Pogačar challenge Carapaz for the polka-dots today? No, he’s not that much of a cannibal. The Ecuadorian is ushered through.

108km to go

Mas leads the race over the summit of the Col de Braus. Armirail trails by a few seconds.

Mas accelerates out front and Kelderman is dropped, Armirail is going all-out to get back on. 

Ineos have no one in there. Carlos Rodriguez dropped already. 

17 riders in the yellow jersey group, 15 seconds down on Armirail, Kelderman, and Mas out front, and 2km from the summit of this first climb. 

Soler pushes things on for UAE now. Armirail sees him from one of the numerous hairpins on this climb, and waves his arm in frustration. ‘You said you weren’t going to do this’, he’s thinking. 

UAE are attentive here as Ciccone gets on board with the accelerations. Plenty of the top 10 on GC getting involved here.

The yellow jersey group splits again under that latest push. A really chaotic start here on a cat-2 climb on a day when Pogačar said he’d allow a breakaway to go clear. 

Carapaz attacks! And Jorgenson hits out too! Pace is lifted.

Enric Mas (Movistar) attacks now as the pace eases off in the yellow jersey group.

113km to go

Gee has dropped back so we have Kelderman and Armirail at the head of affairs half-way up this climb, 16 seconds up on a small yellow jersey group. 

Derek Gee – 8th overall – has gone with Kelderman and now Bruno Armirail sets off for AG2R. Behind, UAE are now setting pace in a heavily fragmented GC group that has swallowed most of the break.

Wilco Kelderman sets off now as the yellow jersey approaches. Riders all over the place here. 

And that yellow jersey group is coming across to the break!

There are only 25 riders in the yellow jersey group, with plenty of splits on this climb. 

We can see Adam Yates up front for UAE, Matteo Jorgenson for Visma. 

The Col de Braus is a category-2 climb measuring 10km at an average gradient of 6.6%>

A few new additions to the lead group as we hit the climb. Full composition on the way shortly. 

The road now dips down ahead of the climb proper and we have this 14-man lead group, a larger pack, and a gruppetto that’s already forming with the sprinters.

14 riders in this front split being driven by Powless. 

The peloton is splitting here.

We’re on a kicker ahead of the Col de Braus and EF are trying to rip it up already, with Powless now setting a pace for Carapaz.

That six-man break has been swallowed up as we start to climb.

12 teams have won a stage at this Tour. That leaves 10 that haven’t: 

Ineos Grenadiers, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Lidl-Trek, Bahrain Victorious, Movistar, Groupama-FDJ, Decathlon-AG2R, Israel-Premier Tech, Uno-X, Cofidis

Bora are now chasing in the peloton, at 15 seconds. Hindley looked to be in that move but then dropped back, and his team are now on the back foot. They haven’t won a stage at this year’s race and lost their leader – and star signing – Primož Roglič to injury, so they’ll be desperate to get something out of this race.

Waerenskjold and Hindley drop away as Neilson Powless, Hugo Houle, Anthony Turgis and Jordan Jegat come across to Costa and Cort to make a six-man group. 

Waerenskjold is now joined by his teammate Magnus Cort. Rui Costa and Jai Hindley are hitting out with more now jumping from the pack.

Soren Waerenskjold takes off solo for Uno-X as things settle down in the bunch after the opening flurry. Plenty of riders biding their time here.

Uno-X look keen here, EF as well. 

The race is underway

The flag is waved and we are racing. The first attacks come immediately, and they might not let up until we get a selection on our first climb.

Here we go then. Race director Christian Prudhomme rises from the sunroof as we approach kilometre-zero. 

We’re edging closer to kilometre zero so we’ll be properly underway in just a few minutes.

And here’s Pogačar’s reaction after yesterday’s victory, his fourth of this Tour (and 15th of all) and one that effectively sewed up a third yellow jersey.

‘I’m not a cannibal, I eat sweets’ – stage-chomping Tadej Pogačar takes giant step towards Tour de France victory

Here’s the race leader at the start a little earlier

They’re off

After a slight delay due to traffic conditions for teams getting to the start area on the harbour in Nice, they’re on the move now.

The riders have all signed on and have gathered on the start line – they’ll be rolling very shortly. We have a lengthy neutral zone today so racing proper is expected to get underway in around 20 minutes. 

There’ll be a race at the front and there’ll be a race at the back. Arnaud Démare missed the time cut yesterday but Mark Cavendish fights on, with one more gruppetto slog to go before he can complete his final Tour de France. A slight shame that he won’t get to cap it off in Paris, but with that record-breaking 35th stage win in the bag his farewell Tour has been a resounding success. 

Here’s Jonas Vingegaard’s reaction after yesterday’s fatal blow. 

‘The fight for the win is over’ – Jonas Vingegaard concedes Tour de France title to Tadej Pogačar at Isola 2000

Sure is a hot one

A glance above and you should see the special jersey wearers, and they’re pretty much set in stone now. Pogačar obviously has yellow firmly on his shoulders, likewise Evenepoel has no close competition in the young rider classification, and Biniam Girmay cannot lose the green jersey for points classification winner. Richard Carapaz took the polka-dots yesterday after leading over the Cime de la Bonette, and while it’s not mathematically certain, only Pogačar could divest him of the mountains jersey, so he for one will be hoping the Slovenian is as good as his word.

The only thing is, the Tour is over. Anything can happen of course, and Tadej Pogačar will need to stay upright and healthy today, but barring an extraordinary turn of circumstance, he’ll be crowned as a three-time champion in Nice tomorrow. Even he has already acknowledged as much, ignoring the standard cautious tone of GC leaders and vowing enjoy the day out on climbs he knows well, living in Monaco. His closest rival Jonas Vingegaard – not that close at over five minutes down – has practically admitted defeat too, so there’s very little suspense left in the battle for the yellow jersey. 

We could see Remco Evenepoel looking to expose those weary cracks that emerged in Vingegaard yesterday in a bid to bring second place into play on Sunday’s time trial, while there’s stuff still to be gained and lost further down on GC. But the real drama on this stage could revolve around the breakaway. Pogačar has all-but given it his blessing, and there should be an almighty fight to make it in, with the first climb coming after just 15km and promising an explosive start to the day.

We’re already in Nice, where this Tour de France unusually concludes on Sunday, but we’re heading back inland and into the Alpes Maritimes for what is a big old day of climbing considering we’re not in the high Alps. Yesterday was marked by extreme altitude HC climbs, and while we don’t get near the 2000-metre barrier today and are limited to cat-1s, we do have more climbing in total, with 4,600 metres of elevation (compared to 4,400 yesterday). With a distance of 132.8km, that leaves little room for flat roads, and the constant up-and-down should make for an action-packed day out.

Around an hour to go until the stage gets underway in Nice.

The Tour de France is over, but Tadej Pogačar is still running up the score – Analysis

Slovenian takes retribution for Col de la Loze and Hautacam defeats with exhibition at Isola 2000

Tour de France 2024 stage 20 preview – Last chance for the opportunists in final mountain stage to Col de la Couillole

July 20, 2024: Nice – Col de la Couillole,132.8km

Tour de France: Tadej Pogačar takes stunning solo win on stage 19 to secure yellow jersey

Vingegaard holds Evenepoel despite losing 1:42 to yellow jersey

And a look back at the stage 19 result and current general classification.

Here’s the route profile and map of today’s stage 20.

Around 90 minutes to go before the start of today’s final mountain stage.

Bonjour and welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage of stage 20 of the 2024 Tour de France!