Ciccone gets the mountain jersey
Pogacar takes the stage, Vingegaard rolls to Paris in yellow
07/22/2023, 5:15 p.m
At the end there is another direct duel: Tadej Pogacar wins against Jonas Vingegaard in the penultimate stage of the Tour de France. But the Dane is sure of the overall victory. Giulio Ciccone celebrates the mountain jersey, which has been won by the overall winner in each of the past three years.
Tadej Pogacar celebrated the conciliatory second stage victory in the arms of his teammates, Jonas Vingegaard hugged his family as the designated overall winner in the yellow jersey. Before the grand finale in Paris, the protagonists of the 110th Tour de France relived their gripping duel for a last time.
On the 20th and penultimate stage over 133.5 kilometers and six climbs to Le Markstein in the Vosges, Pogacar and Vingegaard fought a direct duel for the stage win. Pogacar played his momentum and pushed past Vingegaard in the final meters. “After a few days of suffering, I finally found myself again. I’m super happy,” said Pogacar.
Vingegaard also had every reason to be happy: The Dane is about to win his second overall victory in the Tour of France. The 26-year-old defended his comfortable lead in the overall standings on the last mountain stage and will reach Paris on Sunday wearing the yellow jersey. His lead over second-placed Pogacar is 7:29 minutes.
Pogacar was waiting for his chance
On the way to the French capital, Vingegaard faces the Tour d’honneur, on which the yellow jersey is traditionally no longer attacked. For the sprinters, on the other hand, the final on the Champs Élysées is still about a prestige victory. Meanwhile, the mountain jersey was secured by the Italian Giulio Ciccone. The 28-year-old from Team Lidl-Trek collected the last points needed to win the special classification for the best climber in a breakaway group. Pogacar’s teammate Adam Yates (+ 10:56) won the fight for third place on the podium. The Briton, who had won the season opener in Bilbao and was in yellow for a while, achieved his best overall result in the Tour of France with third place behind Vingegaard and Pogacar.
The French also said goodbye to crowd favorite Thibaut Pinot. Already on Saturday night, fans celebrated the 33-year-old with chants and bengalos on the climbs, before the start of the stage, FDJ team boss Marc Madiot shed tears in an interview. The former tour third Pinot ended his career at the end of the season. On his last mountain stage at the Great Loop, he was one of the breakaways in his home region. Pinot attacked Petit Ballon on the penultimate mountain and was carried away as a soloist by the frenetic cheers of the fans. However, he was not granted the stage victory and the cinematic end of his tour career.
The peloton of favorites around Vingegaard and Pogacar, who controlled the gap to the leading group, played a decisive role in this. On the final climb, Col du Platzerwasel, the greatly reduced group merged with Pinot. Pogacar had previously attacked again, but as so often in the course of the tour so far, the Slovenian did not shake off his rival Vingegaard. Pogacar lurked for his chance in the final sprint and took it.