Jonas Vingaard wins the Tour de France again as Pogacar takes stage 20 | Tour de France 2023

Tadej Pogacar won the final mountain stage of the 2023 Tour de France to Le Markstein, as Jonas Vingegaard took back-to-back wins in the French Tour. With the Sunday-only procession stage continuing into central Paris, the Dane will, barring incidents, wear the final yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday.

Pogacar, who collapsed from the overall challenge midweek in the Alps, was determined to finish the Tour on a positive note. Despite winning the final stage, he was still beaten overall by 7 minutes 29 seconds by Vingaard, with his fellow Emirati, Adam Yates, finishing third overall at 10 minutes 56 seconds behind the Jumbo-Visma rider.

The Yates twins, Adam and his brother Simon, finished this Tour just as they started it, riding together to the finish, with Adam Yates leading Pogacar into the final kilometer to start his winning sprint.

During his last Tour, on local roads, Thibaut Pinot made his promise to try and win the stage. The Frenchman’s solo move was met with cheers by thousands, as Vogue’s “Pinotmania” dominated.

The Groupama FDJ rider, who said before the stage that “it would be hard to know these roads better than me”, led the yellow jersey group, which includes Vingegaard, for a minute and a half as he reached the summit of the penultimate climb, the Petit Ballon.

Three chasers – Tom Pidcock, Warren Barguel and Chris Harper – chased Benot up to the last mountainside of the Tour, the Col de Platzerwassel.

But nine kilometers from the finish, the tireless Frenchman’s determination was no longer enough, and after being swept up by Vingaard, Pogacar and climbing phenom Felix Gall, he fell behind.

The stage was marred by a series of crashes with three riders in the top ten – Pidcock’s teammate Carlos Rodriguez, Vingegaard’s main climb lieutenant, Sepp Kuss and Pinot’s co-leader, David Gaudu – among the falls.

Rodriguez, who had blood on his left side and also on his forehead, fought hard to hang on for fourth but on the final climb, was unable to prevent Simon Yates from moving up to fourth overall.