Stage 20 report ...
Jeremy Whittle was at La Planche des Belles Filles to witness an extraordinary day in Tour de France history ...
Primoz Roglic speaks ...
“I just obviously didn’t push enough,” he says. “It was like that, I was just more and more without the power I needed. I gave it everything until the end. We will see what happens now. I can be happy with the result and the racing we showed here. Let’s take the positive things out.” Good luck with that, Primoz.
Pogacar takes the yellow jersey ...
... and the King of the Mountains jersey and the jersey for best young rider. That’s just greedy, to be honest.
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Tadej Pogacar speaks ...
“I dunno ... I think I’m dreaming,” he says. “I don’t know what to say. It’s unbelievable.”
His interview is interrupted as Primoz Roglic comes over to give him a hug.
“I dunno what to say,” he continues. “I dunno, when I will believe this but I am really proud of the team. They did such a big effort. The way to get the yellow jersey on the final day was just a dream. It was amazing. I knew every corner, I knew every pothole on the road. Congrats to all my team.”
Astonishing from Pagacar ...
I’m not sure anyone saw this coming, but the young Slovenian has put in an incredible performance to win this stage and deny his good friend and fellow countryman what looked almost certain victory in this year’s Tour.
Tadej Pogacar takes the yellow jersey
Having put in one of the most heroic efforts in Tour history, Pogacar takes the yellow jersey with only tomorrow’s procession into Paris to come.
Primoz Roglic rolls over the finish line 1min 56sec behind his young compatriot. He gets off his bike, sits on the ground and gulps down air, while Pogacar and his team-mates celebrate. Pogacar looks completely shell-shocked.
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Roglic pedals on: He looks broken. Having had a 57 second lead over Pogacar on GC this morning, he’s going to finish the day well behind him.
Tadej Pogacar obliterates the stage and the race: With Roglic’s team-mates Tom Dumoulin and Wout van Aert looking on in astonishment, Pogacar finishes a brilliant effort to clock a time of 55min 55sec.
It will win him the stage, the mountains jersey, the leader’s yellow jersey and almost certainly ... the Tour de France. Tadej Pogacar is 21 years old.
Primoz Roglic: It’s all gone Pete Tong for Roglic, who is nearly 50 seconds behind on the road.
Richie Porte: The Australian finishes just shy of Dumoulin’s time. It’s enough to get him on the podium, mind.
Tadej Pogacar: He leads the General Classification by 29 seconds on the road according to the rolling time-check.
Enric Mas: The Movistar rider finishes 1min 24sec behind clubhouse stage leader Tom Dumoulin.
Pogacar still leading: With two kilometres to go, he is 22 seconds ahead of Roglic. This is going right to the wire.
Pogacar looking good: He extends his lead to 30 seconds and is looking far more comfortable than Roglic, who is out of the saddle and struggling.
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Tadej Pogacar is virtual leader of the Tour de France! Roglic is now 11 “virtual” seconds behind his compatriot on the road.
Roglic is in all sorts of bother! His lead has been whittled down to five seconds. Five!
Primoz Roglic: He leads the tour de France but only by 16 “virtual” seconds. Pogacar looks a lot more comfortable out there.
Tadej Pogacar: He’s 36 seconds ahead of Roglic on the road. Roglic switches bikes and gets a push from his mechanic ... possibly longer than the five seconds permitted.
Tom Dumoulin rides into the lead! His face a mask of agony, Dumoulin tackles the final 200 metres of the stage and takes the clubhouse lead by 10 seconds.
Tadej Pogacar: With a little under six kilometres to go, every inch of them uphill, Pogacar switches to a road bike, gets his five-second push-off from his mechanic and pedals onwards and upwards. WIll he pedal into yellow on the penultimate day of the Tour?
Tadej Pogacar: The young Slovenian is about to hit the bottom of the climb. In front of him, Richie Porte continues to look good for a podium place, as Miguel Angel Lopez is not having a good day.
Tadej Pogacar: It’s getting interesting on the road to La Planche Des Belles Filles. Pogacar has taken 32 “virtual” seconds out of Roglic. The gap at the start of proceedings today was 57 seconds.
Tom Dumoulin: Interestingly, he hasn’t switched to a road bike for the final ascent.
Tom Dumoulin: Wout van Aert’s Jumbo-Visma team-mate Tom Dumoulin is ahead on the road as he tackles the final ascent.
Wout van Aert goes into the lead: He takes 28 seconds out of Remi Cavagna’s time, finishing in 57min 26sec.
Primoz Roglic: The maillot jaune goes through the first time check 13 seconds slower than Tadej Pogacar on the day.
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Primoz Roglic: The early signs are that Roglic is riding 12 or 13 seconds slower than Pogacar, but that’s without an official time check.
Miguel Angel Lopez is hemorrhaging time and looks set to lose his place on the podium tomorrow to Richie Porte.
Wout van Aert: The Belgian has made up a load of time on the final climb and has posted the quickest time at the final time check - six seconds quicker than Remi Cavagna.
Mikel Landa: The Bahrain-McLaren is not having the best of days and looks to be dropping out of the top five, with Enric Mas from Movistar looking most likely to benefit at his expense.
Richard Carapaz: The Ecuadorian started four minutes before Caruso and has just been passed by him. He’s taking it easy alright, but only until the final climb. It’s all about the polka-dot jersey for Carapaz.
Damiano Caruso: The Italian is trying to edge Alejandro Valverde out of the top 10 and is looking good to do so at the moment. He’s 1min 20sec faster than Valverde on the road, but only 19 seconds behind him on GC.
Primoz Roglic is away
The maillot jaune departs.
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Tadej Pogacar is away: The Slovenian in the white jersey rolls down the ramp, needing to find 57 seconds on his compatriot if he is to take the lead in this year’s Tour. It’s a tall order.
Miguel Angel Lopez is away: The Colombian sets off, trying to protect his third place from Richie Porte.
Mikel Landa sets off: Richie Porte will be next, trying to ride himself on to the podium. Miguel Angel Lopez, Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic will be the final three riders to go.
Adam Yates is away: In seventh place on GC, the Mitchelton-Scott rider from Yorkshire gets his pedal on.
Wout van Aert: The Jumbo-Visma rider passes the first check point 39 seconds down on Remi Cavagna.
Richard Carapaz sets off: In the polka-dot jersey, the Ecuadorian rolls down the ramp on a time trial bike. He’ll almost certainly take it relatively easy until the final six kilometres, at which point he’ll go all in to ensure he keeps the iconic garment.
We’re down to the final 20 riders: Wout van Aert is the next rider to go. He’s in the bizarre position of being among the favourites for today’s ITT and tomorrow’s almost inevitable sprint finish in Paris.
Thomas De Gendt finishes: Remi Cavagna remains on his throne as De Gendt, who some thought might trouble the upper reaches of the leaderboard today, comes up over two minutes short.
The top three so far
- Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick Step) 57min 54sec
- David De La Cruz (UAE Emirates) +41sec
- Soren Kragh Anderson (Sunweb) +2min
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Michal Kwiatkowski sets off: Having won his first ever Grand Tour stage on Thursday, the Ineos Grenadiers rider is a luke warm order to win his second today.
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Thibaut Pinot sets off: The French rider is on his home turf this afternoon and rolls down the ramp with the locals cheering and chanting his name.
On ITV: The topic of a very long conversation between Ned Boulting, Chris Boardman and David Millar is air flow and the merits of some time trial skin-suits over others when it comes to aero-dynamism.
It’s been a long three weeks for the lads – for us all in fact – and the sooner Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic get out on the road today, the better. Jumbo Visma rider George Bennett is the latest to set off.
Even more on the King of the Mountains: “If Carapaz and Pogacar finish level on KOM points after today,” writes Jeremy Rigsby. “There is still one Cat 4 climb on tomorrow’s stage into Paris, with one point available to the first rider over the top. So that would be interesting.”
Slowest in the clubhouse: Mitchelton-Scott rider Jack Bauer has been the slowest rider of the day so far, 1hr 07min 53sec, a second shy of 10 minutes slower than Remi Cavagna.
More on the King of the Mountains: Riders are timed on the final climb and points are awarded to the six quickest: 10, 8, six, 4, 2 and 1. If at the close of play today, Richard Carapaz and Tadej Pogacar are level on points (Carapaz currently leads by two), the Ecuadorian will win the jersey as he’s been first over two Hors Categorie climbs, compared to Pogacar’s one.
If you want some history behind today's climb, look no further than this 👇https://t.co/4w8YgicXd3
— David Millar (@millarmind) September 19, 2020
How things stand: The stage favourites have yet to start, while Remi Cavagna is the leader with 57min 54sec. 90 riders have started the course, 52 have finished it so far and 56 are still to go.
Tour of Luxembourg: This week’s race has been beset by traffic problems - specifically the problem of motorised traffic finding its way on to the course, provoking the ire of the competing cyclists. According to my colleague James Dart, things don’t seem to have improved as the race has progressed.
Meanwhile, at the Tour of Luxembourg ... pic.twitter.com/oMDokeoOZA
— James Dart (@James_Dart) September 19, 2020
Remi Cavagna: Speaking to French TV, the current leader says he expects the favourites to knock 45 seconds to a minute off his time of 57min 54sec.
“I haven’t changed bike because I’m used to riding my TT bike,” he says. “Changing bike, I would have lost 30 to 40’ seconds. Wearing the national champion jersey gives wings. Without the encouragements at the end, I would have lost ten seconds or more. I’m so happy with this blue, white and red jersey, I’m proud to wear it and honour it.”
Thibaut Pinot: The French rider has had a disappointing Tour following his crash in the closing stages of the opening stage three weeks ago. Today is a special occasion for the French rider, who grew up in Lure and the starting ramp is set up outside the school he attended as a teenager. Local mayor Regis Pinot is the Groupama-FDJ rider’s father. Pinot is scheduled to set off at 3.16pm (BST).
Cavagna breaks the hour mark: Deceuninck–Quick-Step rider Remi Cavagna is the first of the riders to finish inside the hour, clocking a time of 57min 54sec.
King of the Mountains: Ineos Grenadiers rider Richard Carapaz wears the polka-dot jersey, leading the King of the Mountains classification with 74 points. Tadej Pogacar is three points behind him in second place, while Primoz Roglic is a further five points back in third. If Roglic and Pogacar set the first and second best times up the final climb today, Carapaz will need to be third fastest to secure the jersey.
“The two Slovenians are very good time trialists,” said his team-mate Pavel Sivakov. “Even doing the first part flat out, they’re able to do a very good time up the hill while Richard will save energy for the hill. We hope for the strategy to work out. Richard will of course change bike for the climb. We’re confident but not overconfident.”
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A new time to beat: Israel Start-Up Nation’s Nils Politt chips almost a minute off Chevalier’s time, rolling home in 1hr 00min 59sec. Who’ll be the first to break an hour?
The time to beat: B&B Hotels rider Maxime Chevalier is the very early clubhouse leader, having covered the course in 1hr 1min 57sec.
“It was important for me to test myself in such a long time trial, especially at the Tour de France,” said the 21-year-old. “I was willing to give it all till the end. This was my first time changing bike voluntarily in a time trial. It cuts the legs a bit. The change of position and rhythm from the flat section to the uphill was kind of special but I’m satisfied to complete the Tour even though there’s one last stage tomorrow.
“I was very afraid when I started because this is only my first pro year. I thank the team for trusting me. I have learned enormously although the Tour de France is something hard every day. As a team we’ve had a good Tour with a lot of top 10.”
🤩 The decisive climb of the #TDF2020: La Planche des Belles Filles!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 19, 2020
🤩 L'ascension décisive du #TDF2020 !#TDFunited pic.twitter.com/Z6FRLxDyp9
Caleb Ewan changes his bike: Third last on GC but with two stage wins to his name on this year’s Tour already, the Australian switches from his time trial bike to a road bike before taking on the final climb.
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To change bikes or not to change?
Much of the chat around today’s stage has revolved around whether or not riders will or should switch bikes before beginning their ascent of Les Planche des Belles Filles. The first 30 flat and rolling kilometres are considerably different to the last six, which are practically uphill. What are the benefits of switching from a TT bike to a road bike for the climb? And at what point along the route should riders intent on doing so ... do so? Here’s a bespectacled Australian from the Lanterne Rouge podcast to explain ...
Today’s time-checks
We’ll be able to monitor, compare and contrast the progress of assorted riders at three different locations on today’s route, with the final one at Les Planches des Belles Filles the only one that really matters.
- Le Raddon: 21.8km to go
- Plancher Les Mines: 5.9km to go
- Point Chrono a Mi-Pente: 2.7km to go
- La Planche des Belles Filles: The finish.
Today’s stage favourites
Primoz Roglic is the favourite to win today’s time trial, but may not have it all his own way. His team-mates Wout van Aert and Tom Dumoulin are also fancied to do well, while Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) and Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) could also find themselves in the mix. Kwiatkowski is 29th on GC and will be the first of that quintet to go against the clock today at 3.18pm (BST) and should set a decent time to beat.
Today’s times ...
While it would be a pleasure to have your company for the entirety of today’s stage, the big-hitters in terms of General Classification won’t be going out for another three hours. Roglic’s Jumbo-Visma team-mate Wout van Aert is in 20th place on General Classification and is due to set off at 3.36pm (BST). Roglic is due to go at 4.14pm (BST), two minutes after his compatriot Tadej Pogacar.
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Stage 20 is go: This year’s Lanterne Rouge, Roger Kluge (Lotto-Soudal) was the first of the 146 riders to roll down the ramp, followed by his team-mates Frederik Frison and Caleb Ewan at 30-second intervals. Almost six hours behind Primoz Roglic, the race leader on General Classification, Kluge will need a big effort today if he is to challenge the Slovenian. One suspects, like many of the competitors, his will be a fairly leisurely cycle along today’s course. While the stragglers are leaving the starter’s hut every 90 seconds, the final 74 will go out every two minutes.
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Stage 19 recap
Denmark’s Søren Kragh Andersen won the stage, while Primoz Roglic ticked off another stage amid ongoing controversy surrounding his team boss Merijn Zeeman’s expulsion from the Tour.
Stage 20: Lure to La Planche des Belles Filles (36.2km)
From William Fotheringham’s stage-by-stage guide: Time was the Tour had up to 120km of time trials but that has been whittled down to create more exciting racing for television. A steep uphill finish like this one should confirm what we’ve seen on the climbs in the past few days; France will be praying for a good Tour from Pinot, whose home village of Melisey features early on today.
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