tour de france stage 20 win

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Tour de France LIVE: Stage 20 results, highlights and standings as Tadej Pogacar wins in Le Markstein

Tadej Pogacar won stage 20 of the Tour de France to Le Markstein as Jonas Vingegaard could begin celebrating the defence of his title in the yellow jersey.

Pogacar proved unable to challenge Vingegaard for yellow in the last week of this race but made his point on the penultimate day as he outsprinted the Dane to the line on the final mountain stage before Sunday’s procession into Paris.

Felix Gall snuck ahead of Vingegaard for second place on the day, while Simon Yates and Adam Yates came in fourth and fifth, results that earn third overall for Adam and see Simon move up to fourth after Carlos Rodriguez suffered the impact of a crash early on the day.

Follow updates from stage 20 of the Tour de France below.

Tour de France 2023 – stage 20

Stage 20: 133km ride to Le Markstein ski resort in Vosges mountains

98km to go: Podium-chasing Carlos Rodriguez crashes

45km to go: Giulio Ciccone secures polka dot jersey

33km to go: Thibaut Pinot attacks!

11km to go: Pogacar and Vingegaard take charge at the front

Tadej Pogacar wins stage 20!

Jonas Vingegaard seals yellow jersey

Highlights of stage 20

16:38 , Lawrence Ostlere

Watch the last kilometre of that thrilling stage 20:

Tour de France LIVE – Simon Yates speaks

16:35 , Lawrence Ostlere

Simon Yates, who finished fourth today and fourth overall. “We were looking for the stage, but I didnt have the legs to jump across and UAE ramped it up in the final anyway. I’m pleased with [my Tour]. I lost 40 seconds early doors in a stupid crash, other than that, I’ve been quite good. I had a couple of days where I suffered in the heat but other than that I’m quite happy.”

Tour de France LIVE – Tadej Pogacar speaks

16:26 , Lawrence Ostlere

“I’m me again,” Tadej Pogacar says. “It was really cool to finish like this. Adam led me out really well, thanks to him it was a bit easier for me to prepare the finish.”

Stage 20 – top five

16:24 , Lawrence Ostlere

Here’s how they finished in that front group:

1. Tadej Pogacar2. Felix Gall3. Jonas Vingegaard4. Simon Yates5. Adam Yates

Adam Yates finishes on the podium

16:23 , Lawrence Ostlere

Brilliant by Carlos Rodriguez, who fought back after that nasty early crash to finish the stage, losing only one spot in the overall standings. Adam Yates takes third on the GC, Simon Yates finishes fourth, Rodriguez is fifth in his first Tour de France and Pello Bilbao is sixth. Jai Hindley is seventh and Felix Gall takes eighth.

Jonas Vingegaard wins the Tour de France

16:18 , Lawrence Ostlere

Jonas Vingegaard, of course, gets the consolation prize of confirming his second Tour de France triumph. He will enjoy the procession to Paris tomorrow.

🤝Respect. #TDF2023 | @TamauPogi | Jonas Vingegaard pic.twitter.com/fdD8mVe7dz — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 22, 2023

16:15 , Lawrence Ostlere

Tadej Pogacar sprints away from the climbers and Vingegaard sits up before the line, knowing the game is up. Pogacar celebrates fiercely – that meant a lot.

Tour de France LIVE – Vingegaard vs Pogacar

16:14 , Lawrence Ostlere

250m to go: Vingegaard tries to outsprint Pogacar around the outside, here we go...!

Tour de France LIVE – Yates setting up Pogacar for sprint

16:12 , Lawrence Ostlere

1km to go: Adam Yates leads Pogacar, with Vingegaard, Simon Yates and Felix Gall in tow...

2km to go: Simon Yates puts in a little accelaration and Pogacar leads the chase. The front five are now back together, with Adam Yates back on the front, trying to set up his teammate Pogacar to sprint to the line. Can anyone outsprint the Slovenian in this group? It seems unlikely.

Tour de France LIVE – five riders at the front contesting stage win

16:09 , Lawrence Ostlere

4km to go: The Yates twins have caught the leading trio, so we have five riders at the front now:

Adam Yates and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates), Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula), Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Felix Gall (Ag2R).

Tour de France LIVE – Adam Yates closing in to help Pogacar

16:07 , Lawrence Ostlere

5km to go: Gall, Vingegaard and Pogacar have crested the final climb and are riding slightly downhill towards the finish. Vingegaard looks at Gall as if to say, how do we stop Pogacar and Yates doubling up on us? Gall tells the yellow jersey to take a turn on the front, and he duly does. They are going to have to work together to stop the UAE Emirates duo from taking control of this finish.

Tour de France LIVE – Vingegaard, Pogacar and Gall lead

16:03 , Lawrence Ostlere

8km to go: A fascinating game of cat and mouse at the front here as Vingegaard keeps looking across at Felix Gall and Tadej Pogacar. Who will launch an attack first? Pogacar doesn’t need to – he can wait to the top where a plateau will open the chance for a sprint finish. Vingegaard probably needs to attack sooner, you’d think.

Behind them, Simon and Adam Yates are closing in – they are about 15 seconds behind these leaders.

Tour de France LIVE – Yates brothers, Rodriguez and Bilbao fight for third

16:00 , Lawrence Ostlere

9km to go: Felix Gall leads Vingegaard and Pogacar up towards the finish like a sacrificial lamb. Behind them, another race is forming for the podium places. Simon Yates is trying to shake off his twin Adam Yates, who occupies third spot right now. Carlos Rodriguez is also there after his ealier crash, being helped by Tom Pidcock, and Pello Bilbao is with them too.

You can see the current standings via the ‘stopwatch’ tab above.

Tour de France LIVE – Vingegaard, Pogacar and Gall move clear

15:54 , Lawrence Ostlere

11km to go: The three best climbers at this year’s Tour de France surge away from Pinot, Pidcock and Barguil – the Briton tries to respond but he cannot for long. That is the last we will see of Thibaut Pinot attacking on a mountain stage at the Tour de France. Chapeau.

Tour de France LIVE – Six riders now lead the race

15:51 , Lawrence Ostlere

Vingegaard, Pogacar and now Felix Gall have caught up to the front three: Pinot, Pidcock and Barguil. So these six riders lead stage 20 and surely one of them is going to win the day in Le Markstein.

Tour de France LIVE – Pogacar attacks!

15:49 , Lawrence Ostlere

12km to go: Tadej Pogacar launches clear of the yellow-jersey group! Only Vingegaard responds, and the two of them are suddenly only 20 seconds from Pinot. Pinot is meanwhile being caught by Pidcock and Barguil – there’s three in the lead now! Action everywhere.

Tour de France LIVE – Pinot struggling to hold on

15:47 , Lawrence Ostlere

15km to go: Pinot’s gap has been cut slightly on the descent as they now climb towards the final peak of the day – the Col du Platzerwasel. So it’s Pinot by 12 seconds to a flying Tom Pidcock and Warren Barguil, and the yellow-jersey group are now less than one minute behind Pinot. Is the Frenchman cracking?

Tour de France LIVE – David Gaudu crashes

15:37 , Lawrence Ostlere

20km to go: David Gaudu is down! A crash out of nowhere on the descent, and the Frenchman chasing a top-10 finish is having to shake off what looks like a painful fall.

Tour de France LIVE – Pinot begins descent to final climb

15:31 , Lawrence Ostlere

25km to go: Pinot goes over the top of the penultimate climb and begins the 10km descent with a 30-second lead over Pidcock and the chasers – that’s a phenomenal solo attack. How much has he got left for the final climb? This will be a famous, emotional victory if he can pull it off on his final Tour de France. The yellow-jersey group is still 1min 30sec back.

Tour de France LIVE – Pinot leads Pidcock and Barguil

15:27 , Lawrence Ostlere

The French fans are going utterly nuts as Pinot cycles into waves of supporters which part for their hero. Behind him, Chris Harper has lost touch with Barguil and Pidcock.

Tour de France LIVE – Pinot leads Pidcock, Harper and Barguil

15:25 , Lawrence Ostlere

27km to go: Pinot is charging towards the top of the Petit Ballon all alone, with a 20-second lead over Pidcock, Harper and Warren Barguil, who has caught on to their wheel. When he gets to the top, you can bet Pidcock will launch down the descent and make up that time gap – it could be a straight duel on the final climb.

The yellow-jersey group are still 1min 20sec behind Pinot. Have Vingegaard, Pogacar and co left it too late to win the stage?

Tour de France LIVE – Pinot moves into solo lead

15:19 , Lawrence Ostlere

30km to go: Pinot goes alone! He’s surged clear and is trying to make a huge race-winning move. Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Ineos) and Australian Chris Harper (Jayco-Alula) are the only two able to give chase, now about 15 seconds back from Pinot.

Tour de France LIVE – Thibaut Pinot attacks!

15:10 , Lawrence Ostlere

33km to go: The breakaway hits the first of the final two climbs and Thibaut Pinot puts his foot down! The Vosges mountains is the great Frenchman’s home turf and he is taking charge. Tom Pidcock and a handful of the other breakers have gone with him.

They are 1min 30sec clear of the yellow-jersey group now and that gap is growing.

Tour de France LIVE – breakaway leads peloton into final two climbs

15:04 , Lawrence Ostlere

So, we are in to the final 40km of this stage 20 and the state of play is this: a group of 10 riers are working together well at the front in a breakaway that is steaming towards the first of the two category-one climbs that precede the finish, the Col du Petit Ballon (9.3km at 8.1%). It’s pretty steep and pretty long and some will crack here. The leaders are:

Pinot, Madouas, Ciccone, Skjelmose, Harper, Barguil, Van Gils, Uran, Vermaerke, Pidcock, Uran, Madouas and Vermaerke.

Behind them, only a minute back up the road, UAE Emirates are chasing with a stage win for Tadej Pogacar in mind. Jumbo-Visma are right there too, because Jonas Vingegaard wants the victory too.

Tour de France LIVE – Giulio Ciccone wins polka dot jersey!

14:55 , Lawrence Ostlere

45km to go: Giulio Ciccone goes over the top of the Col de la Schlucht before the rest and that is that – he has won the polka dot jersey. There are not enough King of the Mountains points left for Felix Gall or Jonas Vingegaard to catch him. He grabs his jersey and smiles, then turns and thanks his teammates who helped make it all possible today.

On this day in 2012

14:42 , Lawrence Ostlere

Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour de France on this day in 2012.

Wiggins finished three minutes and 21 seconds ahead of compatriot and Team Sky colleague Chris Froome to be crowned champion in the 99th edition of the race.

The then 32-year-old was left on the verge of history following his impressive time-trial win on the penultimate day.

And there were no slip-ups during the 20th and final stage, where Wiggins helped another Team Sky rider Mark Cavendish to victory on the Champs-Elysees.

“I don’t know what to say, I’ve had 24 hours for it to soak in,” he said following his win.

On this day in 2012: Bradley Wiggins celebrates historic Tour de France victory

Tour de France LIVE – Pidcock and Pinot among seven riders in breakaway

14:34 , Lawrence Ostlere

60km to go: There are seven riders out in front now, with the peloton about a minute behind them.

The leaders are: Pinot, Madouas, Ciccone, Skjelmose, Harper, Barguil, Van Gils, Uran, Vermaerke and Pidcock.

A day for Thibaut Pinot on his final Tour de France? Could Tom Pidcock deliver a stage win to go with his victory on Alpe d’Huez last year? They could do with a bigger gap from the chasing peloton first, which includes Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, both hungry for the stage win.

Tour de France LIVE – Giulio Ciccone closes in on King of the Mountains prize

14:17 , Lawrence Ostlere

75km to go : Giulio Ciccone is first of the breakaway over the top of the category two Col de la Croix des Moinats – that’s five more points and he is closing in fast on securing the polka dot jersey. He will need just a couple more KoM wins on the next ascents to seal the deal.

Tour de France LIVE – stage 20 profile

13:59 , Lawrence Ostlere

The breakaway is approaching the second categorised climb of the day. Among them is Giulio Ciccone, looking to clinch more King of the Mountains points.

Here’s a closer look at today’s profile:

Tour de France LIVE – breakaway forming ahead of peloton

13:53 , Lawrence Ostlere

85km to go: A breakaway of around 15 riders is trying to pull clear of the peloton, but UAE Emirates are working hard to haul them back and ensure Tadej Pogacar gets a look at winning this stage. The break are only around 20 seconds clear of the rest.

Tour de France LIVE: Sepp Kuss receives medical attention

13:46 , Lawrence Ostlere

91km to go: Jumbo-Visma’s Sepp Kuss is also struggling – he’s got a very similar injury to Rodriguez around his left eye and he’s receiving medical attention as he tries to catch up with the escaping peloton. Kuss’s teammate, the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, was just one bike away from being involved in that crash. That could have been hugely dramatic.

Tour de France LIVE: Carlos Rodriguez injured in crash

13:39 , Lawrence Ostlere

98km to go: A crash in the peloton! It looks like Carlos Rodriguez, the man currently fourth in the overall standings, has hit the ground and he looks hurt, with blood pouring from around his left eye and more on his left arm and leg. The young Spaniard is back on his bike, trying to catch up with the peloton, but this looks pretty bad.

Tour de France LIVE – stage 20

13:34 , Lawrence Ostlere

Here is how the top of the King of the Mountains standings look after that ascent:

Giulio Ciccone 93 points

Felix Gall 82

Jonas Vingegaard 81

13:32 , Lawrence Ostlere

At the top of the first climb of the day, the Ballon d’Alsace, Giulio Ciccone is teed up by his teammates before sprinting to pick up the maximum five King of the Mountains points on offer for this category two climb. Felix Gall wasn’t bluffing when he said he wasn’t interested in contested for polka dots, but Jonas Vingegaard sneaks to the front to try and grab some extra KoM points – but Ciccone’s teammate Mads Pedersen spotted what Vingegaard was up to and sprinted ahead to deny Vingegaard any points haul.

So now we know: the polka dots will be fought between Ciccone and Vingegaard today.

13:24 , Lawrence Ostlere

110km to go: Victor Campenaerts has been reeled in and the peloton is back together as one. Lidl-Trek are working hard on the front to help Giulio Ciccone win the points he needs to protect the polka dot jersey.

13:09 , Lawrence Ostlere

Interesting to hear from Felix Gall ahead of the stage, who tells ITV he is not prioritising the polka dot jersey today. He is only seven points behind Giulio Ciccone and there are a maximum of 37 King of the Mountains points up for grabs here, but Gall insists he won’t be fighting for it.

“If it happens it’s somehing, we’ll see how it plays out, but for sure it’s not the first priority today.”

Tour de France 2023 – stage 20 preview

12:57 , Lawrence Ostlere

Here’s a closer look at today’s stage...

What is left to play for? The team category has been sewn up by Jumbo-Visma, to go with Vingegaard’s yellow jersey, and the green jersey has been won by Jasper Philipsen, assuming he can get through this day unscathed and before the time cut – his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates will ensure that he does. The best young rider’s white jersey will almost certainly be won by Pogacar for the fourth year in a row.

But the polka dot jersey is still very much on the line. Giulio Ciccone currently wears the famous red and white colours but his tally of 88 points at the top of the standings is not definitive. Austrian rider Felix Gall – winner of the Souvenir Henri Desgrange as the first over the top of the highest point of the race – has 82 points on the board. Then there is Vingegaard, with 81 points. There are 37 points available on stage 20, so this is where the King of the Mountains will be decided.

There is also a final podium spot up for grabs. Pogacar’s UAE Emirates teammate Adam Yates currently occupies third in the general classification, an impressive achievement given the work he has put in for his leader throughout the Tour. But Yates is only a minute or so up on Ineos’s Carlos Rodriguez and his twin brother Simon Yates, while Bahrain Victorious’s Pello Bilbao is around two minutes back from the podium. We can expect some attempts to dislodge Adam Yates, who will now doubt have his teammates’ support in defence of his place, which comes with plenty of prize money as well as prestige.

Tour de France stage 20 preview: A fight to be King of the Mountains

12:49 , Lawrence Ostlere

Stage 20 has just begun and in news that will shock no one who has followed this Tour de France, Belgian chaos-magnet Victor Campenaerts has gone on the attack immediately. He has won both of the past two combativity awards for his aggression over the last two stages and he’s on one again.

Tour de France 2023: Latest updates from stage 20

12:45 , Lawrence Ostlere

Follow all the action from the final stage before Paris.

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Tour de France 2023 Stage 20 recap: Pinot denied as Pogacar wins and Vingegaard secures second triumph

• Overall standings
• Related videos

Updated 22/07/2023 at 15:52 GMT

• - VINGEGAARD SECURES SECOND TOUR CROWN AS POGACAR TAKES CONSOLATION WIN
• - POGACAR ATTACKS ON FINAL CLIMB, VINGEGAARD AND GALL RESPOND
• - DAVID GAUDU CRASHES ON DESCENT OF THE PETIT BALLON
• - PINOT SOLOES CLEAR OF BREAK ON PETIT BALLON WITH 31KM TO GO
• - PINOT ON THE ATTACK AFTER CICCONE SECURES POLKA DOTS

Pogacar back to winning ways as Vingegaard all but secures second Tour triumph

22/07/2023 at 18:39

Pogacar storms to Stage 20 victory as Vingegaard confirms Tour triumph

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Tour de France Stage 20: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour and leads out Mark Cavendish to fourth Champs-Elysees win

Bradley Wiggins this afternoon crowned the greatest day in British cycling history by not only becoming the first rider from these shores to win the Tour de France, but also leading world champion Mark Cavendish under the flamme rouge to set up the world champion for his fourth consecutive victory on the Champs Elysees, his first there for Team Sky.

When the team was launched in 2010, Dave Brailsford attracted derision when he said its aim was to produce a British winner of the Tour de France within five years. They have achieved that with time to spare, and what's more there is also a British runner-up in the shape of Chris Froome.

With thousands of British fans lining the closing circuit in Paris today, it will be some party in the French capital tonight - Wiggins, Froome and Cavendish however will head to join up with Team GB, with the Olympic road race now less than a week away. With Wiggins today achieving one of the most historic victories ever by a British athlete in any sport, it's a great way to kick off the week in which London 2012 starts.

On a day when the record books were rewritten, one statistic that jumps out is that Cavendish, awarded the accolade of the Tour de France’s greatest ever sprinter a little over a week ago, is now indisputably its most successful.

Not only has he never been beaten on the Champs-Elysées on the four occasions he has finished the Tour de France, but today was his 23rd stage win in the race, putting him ahead of André Darrigade who racked up 22 victories between 1953 and 1964. Cavendish has overhauled that record in half the time.

A man who helped lead Cavendish to one of those Champs-Elysées victories, his former HTC-Columbia team mate George Hincapie, was himself setting a record on this year’s Tour as he made his seventeenth and final participation in the race.

Hincapie, now with BMC Racing, who has completed the race on sixteen of those occasions, was today given the honour of leading the peloton onto the Champs-Elysées for the first of a little over eight laps of frantic racing ahead of the final sprint for the line.

Usually, tradition has it that the maillot jaune’s team leads the man who is the Tour’s winner in waiting onto the famous avenue, but certainly Team Sky weren’t complaining, a helpful nudge in the back from one of their riders helping propel the American to the front of the race for the last time.

Earlier, the peloton had rolled in from Rambouillet, located to the southwest of the French capital, at the usual sedate pace that marks the early part of the final stage of the Tour,

The classification winners – Peter Sagan and Tejay Van Garderen respectively in the green and white jerseys and Thomas Voeckler in polka dot, well, everything – lined up with Wiggins for the obligatory photocall.

Once onto the Rue de Rivoli and the closing circuit, however, racing began in earnest. Joining Hincapie in jumping off the front was another 39-year-old, RadioShack Nissan’s Chris Horner.

A number of other riders managed to jump across to them, the composition of the group kept changing as the peloton snapped at their heels.

Ultimately it was the oldest rider in the race, Horner’s team mate Jens Voigt, who managed to lead the break that stuck, initially attacking with fellow German Danilo Hondo of Lampre-ISD. Lars Bak of Lotto Belisol, who had been in the break of last year’s Tour, also got across, with others attacking behind him.

The group of 11 that eventually formed did their best to stay out as long as they could, but with Liquigas-Cannondale joining Team Sky in leading the chase and Lotto-Belisol and Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank also moving to the front of the peloton inside the final lap, the break was doomed and the last escapees were caught with a little under 3 kilometres left.

After emerging from the tunnel beneath the Tuileries gardens and turning hard left at Norwegian Corner opposite the gilded statue of Joan of Arc onto the Rue de Rivoli, Team Sky were tearing along at the front of the peloton hunting for the perfect end to a Tour in which they have provided a tactical masterclass.

Wiggins himself put in a long stint towing the peloton along, peeling off on the Place de la Concorde, rivals all over the road as they tried to find the line through that would somehow give them a chance of challenging Cavendish for the win.

No-one knows the final corner like the Manxman, however, and as he Edvald Boasson Hagen led him out of it, Cavendish came out of the Norwegian’s slipstream and powered home ahead of Sagan and former HTC Highroad team mate, Matt Goss.

In the last three editions of the race, Cavendish’s final day victories, including last year’s confirmation of his points classification victory, have been the high spots of the Tour for British fans.

It’s a sign of the growing strength of British cycling that today’s win was simply icing on the cake to what will go down as the Tour when Bradley Wiggins made history and became the first rider ever to bring the maillot jaune back across the Channel.

Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, Team Sky:

“It's hard to take in as it happens. Every lap of the Champs-Elysées was goosepimple stuff. We had a job to do with Mark today and we were all motivated to do that so it made it go a lot quicker. The concentration was high and for Mark to finish it off like that... well, it couldn't get any better. 


“I don't actually know what to say that I haven't already said yesterday. It's brilliant. But I'm lost for words. It's a different feeling to 24 hours ago but we've come here and we were committed to what we were doing so there was no sense of, ‘Oh, this is it.' It was so hard once the race started and, right to the end, when I was leading out with a kilometre to go. Right now, at the base of the podium, I'm trying to soak it all in and it's hard to articulate what I'm feeling. It's a strange feeling, really – very strange.


“Now we've come out of our bubble and now we start to realise what it means to all these people who have come over here for the weekend. That turn [near the Arc de Triomphe] was just a sea of Brits and the noise was incredible. It was close to what it was like at the Olympics in Athens when I was coming into the home straight. It's that kind of feeling. It's phenomenal. You couldn't fail to hear it. 


“Tonight I go home. Everything turns to the Olympics and I'll be out on the bike tomorrow and I've got an Olympic time trial to try and win. So that's a higher priority than anything else. It's a little weird to leave Paris without a party because it would be nice to spend time with the team and really enjoy it. This has been – as everyone's seen – such a team effort. Even today, it was an incredible group of guys. I've had the privilege to ride with them for the past three weeks; it's been an absolute honour.


“You imagine that you'd feel an enormous sense of relief but you get there and it's a very strange feeling. I remember watching Cadel win it last year and thinking, ‘God, that must be incredible!' But it happens to you and it doesn't feel as you imagine it to feel. It's a strange sensation. It's very surreal.”

Stage winner Mark Cavendish, Team Sky:

“After getting first and second on GC, winning five stages – or, whatever... how many was it before today – it wasn't going to be an unsuccessful Tour by any means. I'm just happy to get that final win today. We had the whole team on the front and it was an incredible sight. 


“I'm very ready for the Olympics now. Between four of the five guys who are in the Olympic Games squad, there are seven stage wins at the Tour de France so we're going to have an incredibly strong team and we're not just going to the Games to see how it goes. We're fully excited about it and we'll just wait for next Saturday. 


“My legs are really good. You've seen my sprint is really good and I just like getting to the finish. I've got an incredible team to try and do that in London four out of five of us have won stages here... between us we have one out of every three stages of this year's Tour. As a nation in the cycling world, there's nothing better than that.

“It was great for British cycling fans to see what they saw today: guys who are first and second on GC in the Tour de France controlling the peloton and the yellow jersey leading it out at the last kilometre... and me winning for a fourth time here. I'm incredibly proud of an incredible three weeks that came to a close today. 


“It was a sea of blue, white and red flags and it's incredible to see that in Paris.”

Tour de France runner-up, Chris Froome, Team Sky:

“I'm blown away by what we as a team have achieved these last three weeks as a team; it's monumental. Also, for a team that's relatively new to cycling – this is only the third year for Team Sky now – so for us to have two riders standing on the top two steps of the podium on the Champs-Elysées... it's really something special. Hopefully it's set the precedent for us going forward in the future. 


“I surprised myself. I knew I had very good condition coming into this race but you never know where your opposition is at and I was never confident that I would be right at the top of the sport. I'm really happy to be in this position and I hope to keep competing like this in the future. 


“I might not need to change my team to be a winner of the Tour de France. I'd love to win it one day and let's see... I've learned so much this year being right there at the front of the race but not having the pressure of being the leader. I'm going to take that experience away and hopefully learn for the future.


“I never saw this day coming so I couldn't be happier.”

Dave Brailsford, Team Principal at Team Sky:

"I’m very proud. It’s quite emotional. When I got into cycling, nobody else knew about it, but to see all those British flags on the roadside in Paris was phenomenal and I want to thank everybody for coming and thanks for all the support around the world. "It's been an amazing Tour for us. Bradley has had an amazing race and demonstrated he was the best rider in it by finishing with a time trial like that on Saturday.

"We're very lucky to have both Chris and Brad on the same team. This was a Tour that suited Bradley. He's climbing really well, his time trialling's been off the scale and now I think you can see why we stuck with him.

"I couldn't be prouder to have worked with both Bradley and Chris. For Bradley to have won this race, as a British rider - which has never been done before - with a British team with a fantastic British sponsor, it's the stuff of dreams

"I'd never have said that we could do it unless I really believed that we could. A lot of people laughed when we said that we could win this race in five years with a clean British rider. But we were serious about it, we'd done our homework, we knew what Bradley was capable of and what a British team would be capable of - and we set about it.

"From a team perspective we'd like to build on this and I'd like to think this is not just a one-off. The staff and riders should take time and reflect a little bit now but we're building a team for the future here which we want to keep on progressing and coming back to this race to do it all again."

“I can’t allow this achievement to sink in yet. I’m flying straight out of Paris and into the Great Britain training camp in Newport to prepare for the Olympic Games. My thoughts turned to that almost as soon as Brad had stepped off the podium. As I said, everyone else should savour the moment but I can’t wait to get into that Olympic arena now with a British team and show the whole world what we’re made of. “

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Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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21 comments.

Amid all the congratulations one man seems to have been left out. James Murdoch, the son of the Devil himself, for signing those big cheques that made this all possible.

I'll get my coat......

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Road.cc are absolutely right to throw up a stub article initially, simply because us lot are going to comment somewhere - yes one of us could create a forum thread, but giving us a story (however brief) to attach them to, then simply updating the text is by far the better approach.

Other than that, I can't help thinking that, apart from this pointless discussion, the overriding sentiment is that we're all chuffed to bits with the success... which suggests a possibly deliberate fly in the ointment - not trolling are you?

(And if he is, the rest of us need to stop feeding him)

Oh and just a very quick word on the Sun's cycling coverage.

This article:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/4435008/Sprint-king-Mark-Cave...

Lifts quotes attributed to Gianni Bugno from a spoof article on Cyclismas (you'd have thought the other 'quotes' might have set the alarm bells ringing:

http://www.cyclismas.com/2012/07/bugno-declares-cavendish-a-disgrace-to-...

What we've found works best for us, and for the site's users from what we've heard, is a couple of paragraphs summarising the race - who won, GC, major incidents etc - that goes up as soon as possible after the stage, then add in the full report once that's written, then the results and reaction later.

As you noticed, the full report did mention Darrigade's record being beaten, and also that Cav has never been beaten on the Champs (the only record Cav breaks for wins there is his own - only one other rider has won on the Champs more than once - Abdoujaparov, and not in consecutive years).

No doubt Cav remains King of the Champs, but worth remembering Darrigade for example never got the chance to race there - finish has only been there since 1975, by which point Jens Voigt had already learnt his first words. 'Shut up legs," we're guessing.

It would have been difficult to kick off this article without mentioning that the race had just ended with its first British winner. It would have been difficult to start it without mentioning Cavendish. That's why they're both mentioned in the headline and the opening paragraph.

Hope that helps explain.

Well as a transplanted Canadian living in the States, with Brit parents, it's a lot to digest! I love it just as I loved it when Armstrong "pulled the peloton" of American cycling into the spotlight. To many, this may have been "The Snore de France" but I thought it was full of emotional uplifting moments, from Sagan's banging his fist onto the table of (potential) greatness to Voekler's trademark doggedness (is he not always amazing?) to T-P (the next great French hope?) to Georgie getting a hand on the back and shoved to the sharp end to lead the gruppo onto Rivoli...this was a great Tour. Maybe not the toe to toe fisticuffs of this year's Giro, but...it was a grand race for sure. Chapeau's to all the riders.

@PaulVWatts - using an article from the Sun to prove your point shows that your dredging the bottom of the barrel - it's a comic for crying out loud!!! You should try reading a newspaper for a change rather than a gossip rag. It only proves that what you know about cycling could be written on the back of a stamp.........with a marker!

LoL the only reason that article was in the sun is because of Cav's GF.

Well done all of the Sky boys as well as Dave Millar - Looking good for the Olympic Road race.

I'm not diminishing Wiggins achievement but I think the press putting him above Cavendish in the ranks of British cycling history is ridiculous. I never thought I'd recommend a Sun article but try this one which I think is more appropriate than the one above for todays race

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/4443801/Mark-Cavendish-storms...

Allez les rosbifs!

What an achievement! Also loving the fact that the last 3 stages all dominated by brits - and every rider in the Olympic squad has won a stage in this years TDF (alright, except Stannard, but he's doing well elsewhere).

Well done guys. Great work.

I'm getting a bit sick of the Wiggo hype. Whats missing above is Mark Cavendish is now the most succesful sprinter in the history of the Tour de France and the fourth most most succesful stage winner in its history.No mention of that above. Also no mention of the fact he's never lost on the Champs Elysees. Where are you getting your cycling news from the Daily Mail?

PaulVWatts wrote: I'm getting a bit sick of the Wiggo hype. Whats missing above is Mark Cavendish is now the most succesful sprinter in the history of the Tour de France and the fourth most most succesful stage winner in its history.No mention of that above. Also no mention of the fact he's never lost on the Champs Elysees. Where are you getting your cycling news from the Daily Mail?

True. But that doesn't diminish Wiggo's achievement.

S'good day for British cycling!

Woah there, so what about all the hype Cavandish gets over Chris Hoy etc?

Maybe it's like... Wiggos time? Cav has gotten enough coverage over the years and has not won as many stages as before in this year's tour - does it make more sense now?

Awesome. Just fantastic. Magnificent achievement by everyone involved, on and off the bike, but especially the man himself.

Well done Wiggo.

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Girmay becomes first Black African to win a Tour de France stage

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Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay becomes the first Black rider to win a Tour de France stage

Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay celebrates winning ahead of Colombia’s Fernado Gavira, right, during the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Stage winner Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay celebrates on the podium after the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Stage winner Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay reacts after the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay celebrates winning ahead of Belgium’s Arnaud de Lie, left, and Colombia’s Fernado Gavira, center right, during the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz kisses the overall leader’s yellow jersey on the podium after the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Spectators cheer as the riders pass during the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay celebrates winning ahead of Belgium’s Arnaud de Lie, left, and Colombia’s Fernado Gavira, right, during the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, celebrates on the podium after the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz is all smiles after crossing the finish line knowing he took the overall leader’s yellow jersey by finishing with the sprinters in the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

The pack climbs the hills and vineyards around Cuneo during the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, is followed by Slovenia’s Jan Tratnik during the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard autographs a overall leader’s yellow jersey prior to the start of the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

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TURIN, Italy (AP) — Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay became the first Black rider to win a Tour de France stage on Monday.

Girmay said his sprint win in the mostly flat third leg was “for all Africans.”

“We must be proud now. We are really part of the big races,” he said. “Now it’s our moment. It’s our time.”

Before the podium celebration, Girmay went over and greeted Eritrean fans waving their country’s green, red and blue flag.

“There is a whole continent that has been waiting for this,” said Aike Visbeek, the performance director for Girmay’s Intermarche-Wanty team. “It’s been done now, and I hope it will open the floodgates for more riders from Africa. He’s an ambassador in every way.”

Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish’s pursuit of a record-breaking 35th stage win was postponed by a crash ahead of him in the finale, and Olympic champion Richard Carapaz took the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar , making him the first Ecuadorean to lead cycling’s biggest race.

Girmay also made history in Italy two years ago when he won a stage at the Giro d’Italia to become the first Black African to take a victory in a Grand Tour. But Girmay’s Giro victory was marred when he was rushed to a hospital after getting h it in the left eye by a prosecco cork he popped open during the podium celebration — forcing him to abandon the race.

Also in 2022, Girmay became the first rider from a sub-Saharan country to win a single-day classic at the Gent-Wevelgem race .

Riders from only one other African country — South Africa — have won Tour stages: Robert Hunter (2007) and Daryl Impey (2019). Four-time Tour champion Chris Froome was born and raised in Kenya but represented Britain.

The 231-kilometer (144-mile) leg from Piacenza to Turin — the longest stage of this Tour — provided the first chance for a mass sprint. There will be at least a handful of other opportunities for sprinters as the race prepares to cross back into France following the first four stages in Italy.

With time to start raising his arms before he crossed the line, Girmay finished just ahead of Fernando Gaviria and Arnaud De Lie.

Cavendish has been tied with Eddy Merckx on 34 wins for three years and put off retirement to try again this year to break the record.

Members of the Israel-Premier Tech team fell ahead of Cavendish, who crossed 113th but was given the same finishing time as Girmay as per rules that neutralize the times in case of crashes in the final five kilometers.

“I was just looking to stay up. I’m too little to see what’s going on but I could hear it,” Cavendish said. “Someone skidded and I was just waiting for someone to hit from behind. Luckily they didn’t and we kind of got through, but we were way off it and with 2.5K to go we were out of it. I don’t think anybody was seriously hurt and that’s the main thing.”

Cavendish complimented Girmay, who won a reduced sprint.

“That’s just massive. Cycling is massive in Eritrea. It’s super good for him and for African cycling,” Cavendish said. “He’s a legend, isn’t he?”

Pogacar dropped to second overall, with the same time as Carapaz.

Remco Evenepoel — the 2022 world champion and Spanish Vuelta winner — is third overall; and two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is fourth, both also with the same time as Carapaz.

Danish rider Casper Pedersen had to abandon the race after falling with 15 kilometers to go and breaking his collarbone.

The race crosses back into France on Tuesday during Stage 4, the first big mountain leg going up to Sestriere and over the Col du Galibier — one of the Tour’s classic climbs — in the 140-kilometer (87-mile) route from Pinerolo to Valloire.

Pogacar, who won the Tour in 2020 and 2021, and Vingegaard will be favored to take the yellow jersey from Carapaz, who won the Giro in 2019 before taking gold in Tokyo three years ago.

“Tomorrow will be a big day,” Carapaz said. “It will be complicated. I’m going to try and give everything. I’m going to try and enjoy every single moment in the yellow jersey.”

AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

2024 Tour de France: Romain Bardet wins Stage 1, full race results

Bold racing from France’s Romain Bardet and the Netherlands’ Frank van den Broek paid off as the pair got their storybrook ending to win Stage 1 of the 111th edition of the Tour de France on Saturday. 

In his final year before retirement, Bardet will finally wear the coveted yellow jersey. Bardet had previously won three Tour de France stages from 2015-2017, but this opening stage win will surely be the sweetest.  

After his win, Bardet told the media that the yellow jersey was the last goal of his decade-long career.

“I’m finally myself, I’m at a loss for words,” Bardet said . 

Bardet was joined at the finish line by teammate van den Broek, who helped the team leader all the way to the finish line, highlighting the importance of teamwork throughout the 21-stage race. 

Stage 1 of the 2024 Tour de France featured an unprecedented Grand Départ in Italy to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ottavio Bottecchia's historic 1924 victory as the first Italian to win the Tour. Riders completed a challenging 205 km (128 miles) hilly route with seven categorized climbs and over 3,600m (11,800 feet) in elevation gain. Originating in Florence, Italy, cyclists rode through San Marino and the Apennine mountain range to reach the Italian city of Rimini on the Adriatic coast. 

Bardet and van den Broek broke away from the peloton with approximately 40km to go. Although the field faced a strong headwind down the flat road into Rimini, the pair managed to withstand an encroaching peloton armed with the field’s best sprinters with just a few meters to spare. 

A group of the best climbers broke away for most of the race, but Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen did enough to earn the King of the Mountains classification and will wear the polka-dotted jersey used to recognize the best climber. 

Temperatures over 90 added to the difficulty of this stage and team Astana Qazaqstan paid a heavy price. Team leader Mark Cavendish appeared to struggle with heat-related issues and dropped from the peloton early on. His teammate, Michele Gazzoli of Italy, who also seemed affected by the heat, became the first man to withdraw from the race.

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, the favorite to win the 2024 Tour de France, set himself up well with a fourth-place finish, while Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard proved he is certainly healthy enough to be in the mix as he pursues a three-peat after sustaining serious injuries in a crash in April. 

Here’s a full list of results from Stage 1:

2024 Tour de France Stage 1 results

Meet the Stage Hunters of the 2024 Tour de France

Not every rider goes for the yellow jersey. Instead, some go hunting for career-defining stage wins—and sometimes, these races within the race are the most exciting.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit much, but here’s the point: while the battle to win the maillot jaune is always the main focal point of the Tour, there are also races within the race, races that take place on each stage each day.

That’s why, for many riders, a single stage win is an achievement that defines their careers, forever making them known as “Such-and-Such, Tour de France Stage Winner,” a moniker that will follow them for the rest of their lives.

And there’s no more exciting way to win a stage than from a breakaway. Luckily, the 2024 Tour de France is filled with stages that look to be the perfect playgrounds for opportunists who don’t quite fit the mold of “pure climber” or “pure sprinter” and some teams who might be starting to feel the pressure that comes with having never won a stage of their own.

Here’s a look at some of the most prominent, accomplished (and desperate) stage hunters in the 2024 Tour de France.

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Van Aert wasn’t even supposed to be racing this year’s Tour de France. After completing what he had hoped would have been a successful run at the cobbled Classics, the Belgian was planning to head to the Giro d’Italia, where he would build a base for his bid to win a gold medal at the Summer Olympics. But he crashed violently at Dwars door Vlaanderen in late March, breaking his collarbone and several ribs–and ruining his plans for the first half of the season.

So now he’s riding the Tour, where he’s hoping to build form for the Olympics, to help Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard to a high GC finish, and to win a stage. After going winless last year before heading home early for the birth of his second child, the Belgian will be extra-hungry to prove to himself and his rivals that he’s still one of the best in the sport.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

Without Van Aert, van der Poel dominated the cobbled Classics, winning his third Tour of Flanders and then defending his title in Paris-Roubaix a week later, completing the Flanders-Roubaix double by winning both Monuments in the same week. The World Champion raced through Liège–Bastogne–Liège, then took a break before starting his own preparation for the Summer Olympics, a preparation that begins with the Tour de France.

The Tour will be the first stage race of the Dutchman’s season–he’s raced only seven times on the road so far this year–and we’re expecting him to head to the French grand tour with two goals: assist Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen in winning as many stages as possible (and the green jersey) and hopefully win a stage for himself.

Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility)

Cort is one of the best stage hunters in professional cycling, a rider who combines strength with tactical savvy–and a little bit of luck–to score important victories on all types of terrain. The Dane already has nine grand tour stage wins on his resume, and last year–while riding for EF Education-EasyPost–he won his first stage at the Giro d’Italia, meaning he’s now won stages in all three grand tours as well.

During the off-season, the 31-year-old transferred to Uno-X Mobility–a Norwegian wild card team racing its second Tour de France this year–where his primary goal will be winning the team its first Tour stage. We’ll be keeping an eye on him during some of the Tour’s transition stages (too hilly to end in a sprint, but not hard enough to be a day to shuffle the GC) during the second and third weeks. Breakaway stage wins are often hard to predict, but this is a rider who always seems to pull one off.

Ben Healy and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost)

Cort’s a hard rider to replace, but if Healy and Bettiol have their way, EF Education-EasyPost won’t miss him for long. Healy–an Irishman–has been one of cycling’s brightest young stars over the past two seasons. He took his first grand tour stage victory at last year’s Giro d’Italia, and now the 23-year-old has his sights set on winning a stage at the Tour.

Bettiol–who just celebrated his tenth year with the team–has become the team’s spirit animal lately, racing with the kind of panache that inspires his teammates and delights his fans. The Italian was a popular winner at last weekend’s Italian National Championships and now gets to show off his new tricolore jersey in the Tour de France, where he’ll find several stages to his liking.

In general, EF Education should be one of the more exciting teams in this year’s race, with a roster stacked with riders capable of winning stages on any given day. Expect to see the team’s pink kit in the thick of the action on just about every stage.

Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious)

Like EF Education-EasyPost, Bahrain-Victorious comes to the Tour de France with a roster that’s loaded from top to bottom with riders capable of winning a stage or two or three–so it’s hard to pick just one to feature.

But we’re going with Mohorič, the Slovenian who took an emotional stage win late in last year’s race and then gave what has to be one of if not the best post-race interviews in the history of professional cycling.

Like many successful stage hunters, the 29-year-old is an adept one-day rider–he won Milan-Sanremo in 2022 and last year’s gravel world championships–who already has three Tour de France stage wins to show for his efforts. With Spain’s Pello Bilbao, the Netherlands’ Wout Poels, and Great Britain’s Fred Wright, Bahrain-Victorious definitely has a team capable of equalling–and possibly bettering–its three stage wins from last year.

Derek Gee (PremierTech)

Gee’s big breakthrough came at last year’s Giro d’Italia, where the Canadian scored four second-place stage finishes (and took second in the Points and King of the Mountains competitions as well). But the team didn’t bring him to the Tour de France, which made sense considering the Giro was the first grand tour of his career.

But Gee’s been building his 2024 season around the French grand tour, and after a stage win and third-place overall finish at the Critérium du Dauphiné in early June, he’s primed to finally get his first grand tour stage victory–and on the sport’s biggest stage. Frankly, if the Canadian doesn’t win at least one stage, we’ll be shocked.

Toms Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek)

Lidl-Trek is once again coming to the Tour on the hunt for stage wins, led by Denmark’s Mads Pedersen–who won stages in 2022 and 2023–and Italy’s Giulio Ciccone–last year’s King of the Mountains. But while Pedersen will serve as the team’s sprinter and Ciccone as the team’s climber, Skujiņš will have the freedom to hunt for a stage win n from the breakaway.

We’re eager to see how he does on Stage 9, the Tour’s first gravel stage. Second in Italy’s Strade Bianche this March, the Latvian has proven to be an effective Classics rider when given the chance. Stage 9 could be a perfect day for him to take his first grand tour stage victory–especially if the GC contenders spend most of the afternoon marking one another instead of trying to win the stage themselves.

Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny)

Van Gils doesn’t get as much press as van Aert and Philipsen–and for good reason–but the 24-year-old Belgian could start to move the needle in his own direction with a stage win at the Tour de France. He rode well in his Tour debut last year–he took second on Stage 13 atop the Grand Colombier–and has three wins–and some other important high placings–so far in 2024. He’s one of the riders Lotto Dstny is counting on to win the team its first stage since 2020.

Anyone From Arkéa-B&B Hotels and Intermarché-Wanty

With Cofidis–who hadn’t won a Tour de France stage since 2008–winning two stages last year, the focus this year will be on two of three teams in this year’s Tour that have not yet won a stage of their own.

It’s been ten years since Arkéa-B&B Hotels first raced the Tour de France, and the French team still has no stage wins to show for its efforts. (In fact, it’s never had a rider finish better than sixth–which is, uh, not great.) This year, the team will be led by France’s Arnaud Démare, who twice won sprint stages at the Tour but might find it hard to win a third, given the depth of this year’s sprinters. In the end, the team’s best bet might be France’s Kévin Vauquelin, a 23-year-old Tour rookie who finished second at Flèche Wallonne in April.

And then there’s Belgium’s Intermarché-Wanty, who raced its first Tour de France in 2017–which means the team’s “We’re New to the Tour” grace period has ended. Always aggressive, the team has yet to win a stage, but with riders like Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay, South Africa’s Louis Meintjes, and the Netherlands’ Mike Teunissen–who won a stage and wore the yellow jersey with Jumbo-Visma in 2019–the team has the firepower and experience it needs to win its first stage this year.

Since getting hooked on pro cycling while watching Lance Armstrong win the 1993 U.S. Pro Championship in Philadelphia, longtime Bicycling contributor Whit Yost has raced on Belgian cobbles, helped build a European pro team, and piloted that team from Malaysia to Mont Ventoux as an assistant director sportif. These days, he lives with his wife and son in Pennsylvania, spending his days serving as an assistant middle school principal and his nights playing Dungeons & Dragons.

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Tour de France Stage 4: Pinerolo to Valloire

Biniam Girmay Makes History on Stage 3 of the Tour

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Eritrea's Biniam Girmay becomes the first Black African rider to win a Tour de France stage

Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay became the first Black African rider to win a Tour de France stage when he sprinted to victory in the third stage

TURIN, Italy — Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay became the first Black African rider to win a Tour de France stage Monday when he sprinted to victory in the mostly flat third leg.

Girmay said his win was “for all Africans.”

“We must be proud now. We are really part of the big races,” Girmay said. “Now it’s our moment. It’s our time.”

Added Aike Visbeek, the performance director for Girmay’s Intermarche-Wanty team: “There is a whole continent that has been waiting for this. It’s been done now, and I hope it will open the floodgates for more riders from Africa. He’s an ambassador in every way.”

Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish’s pursuit of a record-breaking 35th stage win was postponed by a crash ahead of him in the finale, and Olympic champion Richard Carapaz took the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar — making him the first Ecuadorean to lead cycling’s biggest race.

Girmay also made history in Italy two years ago when he won a stage at the Giro d’Italia to become the first Black African to take a victory in a Grand Tour, the term that encompasses the three major three-week races: the Giro, the Tour and the Spanish Vuelta.

But Girmay’s Giro victory was marred when he was rushed to a hospital after getting hit in the left eye by a prosecco cork he popped open during the podium celebration — forcing him to abandon the race.

Also in 2022, Girmay became the first rider from a sub-Saharan country to win a single-day classic at the Gent-Wevelgem race .

The 39-year-old Cavendish has been tied with Eddy Merckx on 34 wins for three years and put off retirement to try again this year to break the record.

The 231-kilometer (144-mile) leg from Piacenza to Turin — the longest stage of this year’s Tour — provided the first chance for a mass sprint. There will be at least a handful of other opportunities for sprinters as the race prepares to cross back into France following the first four stages in Italy.

Girmay finished just ahead of Fernando Gaviria and Arnaud De Lie.

Cavendish crossed 113th but was given the same finishing time as Girmay as per rules that neutralize the times in case of crashes in the final five kilometers.

Pogacar dropped to second overall, with the same time as Carapaz.

Remco Evenepoel — the 2022 world champion and Spanish Vuelta winner — is third overall; and two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is fourth, both also with the same time as Carapaz.

The race crosses back into France on Tuesday during Stage 4, which is also the first big mountain leg going up to Sestriere and over the Col du Galibier — one of the Tour’s classic climbs — in the 140-kilometer (87-mile) route from Pinerolo to Valloire.

Pogacar, who won the Tour in 2020 and 2021, and Vingegaard will be favored to take the yellow jersey from Carapaz, who won the Giro in 2019 before taking gold in Tokyo three years ago.

“Tomorrow will be a big day,” Carapaz said. “It will be complicated. I’m going to try and give everything. I’m going to try and enjoy every single moment in the yellow jersey.”

AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

Pogacar storms to maillot jaune on stage 20 as Roglic's Tour de France bid collapses

Pogacar smashes time trial to overtake Jumbo-Visma rider, Porte moves onto podium

Tadej Pogačar ( UAE Team Emirates ) stunned the Tour de France to win the stage 20 time trial at La Planche des Belles Filles, taking the yellow jersey after one of the most shocking rides in recent memory to beat Primož Roglič ( Jumbo-Visma ) by 1:56 on the 36km course.

Heading into the penultimate stage, the 21-year-old had a 57-second gap to make up on his compatriot, though few predicted that the time trial specialist Roglič could actually cede the maillot jaune in a test against the clock.

However, Roglič shed time from the beginning, falling 13 seconds down at the first checkpoint of the day after 14km, and 36 seconds at the end of the flat 30km section of the course. Pogačar flew up the climb as Roglič's struggles continued with a less-than-ideal swap from his TT bike to a road bike.

He was still 20 seconds to the good at that point but seemed to collapse as he climbed the first category mountain, which was 6km long at an average of 8.3 per cent. In a matter of seconds, his virtual lead evaporated to a deficit, going into the red at the 3.9km mark and never looking like returning to green. He crossed the final checkpoint, 2.7km out, a devastating 1:22 down.

As Pogačar rode under the flamme rouge , he was in yellow by over 40 seconds, powering to the line as Roglič's teammates Tom Dumoulin and Wout van Aert watched what was unfolding on the big screen in stunned silence.

By the time Pogačar crossed the line in a time of 55:55 – 1:21 ahead of the previous fastest man Dumoulin, the race was already over with the UAE leader having surged up La Planche 22 seconds faster than anyone else, setting a new all-time climbing record in the process, despite changing his bike at the bottom.

Roglič battled through the final kilometres, but only kept losing time. His Tour de France dream had come to an end in the Vosges mountains as he collapsed after the finish, consoled by his waiting teammates.

"I think I’m dreaming. I don’t know what to say. It’s unbelievable," the new GC leader said at the finish line of stage 20. "My dream was just to be on the Tour de France [podium], now the dream is true. I’m here and now there’s only the last stage. This is unbelievable.

"I'm really proud of the team. They did such a big effort. To get the yellow jersey on the final day is what we dreamed from the start. We achieved that and it's amazing.

"It was not just me, it was all the team. We did a reconnaissance and I knew every corner, every pothole in the road, I knew when to accelerate and that's congrats to all the team. I pushed to the end and I made it."

Miguel Ángel López (Astana) was the last man to cross the line, having experienced a similar disintegration over the past hour. The Colombian clocked the 45th best time of the day – and only the 44th best on the climb – to finish over six minutes down on Pogačar. 

Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), who lay 1:39 back in the morning, eased into the final podium spot, finishing third on the stage with a time of 57:16.

After the astonishing events of the day, Pogačar heads to Paris with a 59-second advantage over Roglič, while Porte lies in third, 3:30 down. 

As well as the yellow jersey, Pogačar will take home the white jersey of best young rider, plus the polka dot jersey – the first rider to win all three at one Tour de France in history, since the white jersey didn't exist in the times of Eddy Merckx. Stage 12 winner Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb), meanwhile, takes the combativity award while Movistar win the team classification once again.

How it unfolded

The penultimate stage of the Tour de France would take in the final mountain of the race, La Planche des Belles Filles, though at the end of a 36.2km time trial rather than a mammoth mountain stage.

The TT – which looked to decide the final podium spot, the makeup of the top ten, plus the destination of the polka dot jersey – took in 14km of flat roads to the first checkpoint. Then it was a long rise and shallow descent to the base of the climb at the second checkpoint, 30km in, before the 6km, 8.3 per cent climb to the line, which featured the third checkpoint at 2.7km from the line.

Deceuninck-QuickStep dominated the early proceedings, with Rémi Cavagna and Kasper Asgreen setting the quickest times of the early runners. Cavagna set off first but caught Asgreen, his 1:30 man, and blitzed the two checkpoints, becoming the first man to break the hour barrier with a time of 57:54. Asgreen crossed the line second fastest at 1:00:25.

Twenty minutes later, Alessandro De Marchi (CCC Team) came just one second away from breaking the hour mark, while UAE Team Emirates climber David De La Cruz was the second man to do so, setting a time of 17:40 up the climb to go second at 58:35.

Double-stage winner Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) and Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) both went well, setting times of 59:54, but Cavagna's mark stood strong as the top 20 on GC began their efforts.

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was the first man to beat Cavagna, almost three hours later. The Belgian all-rounder put in a time of 57:26 – including a new fastest time of 16:52 up the climb – to edge out the Frenchman by 28 seconds. Bahrain McLaren's Damiano Caruso put in an impressive ride, too, going third fastest at 58:24, as he overhauled Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) for 10th overall.

His teammate, former world time trial champion Tom Dumoulin, was flying on course, fastest at the second and third checkpoints, 51 and 27 seconds up on Van Aert, respectively. He crossed the line with a time of 57:16, 10 seconds up.

In the battle for the Tour's final podium spot, Miguel Ángel López (Astana Pro Team) was 41 seconds behind Trek-Segafredo's Richie Porte at the first checkpoint. A few minutes later, Roglič passed through, shedding 13 seconds to Pogačar.

Roglič lost more time at the second checkpoint, passing through 36 seconds down. At the top of the climb, the time for Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) was only fourth fastest up the mountain, a fatal blow in his bid to retain the polka dot jersey against the two Slovenians.

After a less than ideal bike change on the climb 5.2km from the top (Pogačar changed 500 metres earlier) Roglič got underway again, a 20-second gap in the virtual GC to Pogačar, but over the early kilometres of the climb he looked to totally crumble, with the time gap ticking down from green into the red.

López was experiencing something similar, losing 2:34 to Porte at the second checkpoint and lost another 1:41 on the climb to fall down to sixth overall, as the Australian grabbed his first-ever Tour podium. Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren), who finished 14th at 59:22, and Enric Mas (Movistar), ninth at 58:40, were also beneficiaries of López's poor ride, moving up to fourth and fifth overall respectively, while Dumoulin's second-place finish at 57:16 saw him take sixth.

Meanwhile, at the final checkpoint 2.7km from the finish, Roglič passed the ailing López, but was a mammoth 1:22 down on Pogačar. By that point, any hope that he had been saving energy on the flat had evaporated, and all that remained was the final slog to the finish, his chances in tatters.

Pogačar had blitzed the course, putting time into every major GC rider, bar Dumoulin on the flat, before blowing them away on the climb. The stage victory, and the 2020 Tour de France, is his.

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Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Prior to joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.

Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.

As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Dani also oversees How to Watch guides and works on The Leadout newsletter throughout the season. Their favourite races are Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix and their favourite published article is from the 2024 edition of the latter: 'Unless I'm in an ambulance, I'm finishing this race' – Cyrus Monk, the last man home at Paris-Roubaix

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Tour de France: Vingegaard the champion again as Meeus sprints to stage win – as it happened

Jordi Meeus sprinted to victory on the final stage as Jonas Vingegaard was crowned champion again

• 23 Jul 2023 Top five on stage 21
• 23 Jul 2023 Jordi Meeus pips Jasper Philipsen on the line to win stage 21
• 23 Jul 2023 Tadej Pogacar wins the intermediate sprint
• 23 Jul 2023 The racing on stage 21 has begun...with a touch of fun to start
• 23 Jul 2023 Who’s wearing what jersey?
• 23 Jul 2023 The top five on General Classification
• 23 Jul 2023 Jonas Vingegaard to win Tour de France again as Pogacar takes stage 20
• 23 Jul 2023 The stage 21 roll-out is under way
• 23 Jul 2023 Saint Quentin en Yvelines-Paris Champs Élysées, 115km

It’s farewell from me… for today. I’ll be back on the Tour de France Femmes live blog tomorrow. Thank you for all your messages, questions and funny anecdotes. They really do bring a smile to my face and it’s been a pleasure covering stages of the Tour de France for you. My colleagues will update with a race report shortly…I’m off to try and recreate this Pogacar gem.

🇫🇷 Lorsque l’actuel deuxième coureur au classement général du Tour de France Tadej Pogacar se rend tranquillement chercher sa baguette en vélo dans les rues de Clermont-Ferrand ! 🥖 🎥 tadejpogacar pic.twitter.com/B1QjiFVWUY — radio sisko fm (@radiosiskofm) July 15, 2023

On the podium:

Earlier I mentioned that there were a few riders saying farewell to the Tour today, having previously announced their retirement from road racing. As well as Sagan and Pinot, Tony Gallopin and Dries Devenyns have raced their final Tour stage today. Gary has tweeted to share his gratitude for Pinot:

Au revoir Thibault Pinot. You rode with your heart on your sleeve not your eye on the power meter, and carried a torch for the emotional power of panache when we thought it had gone forever, lost in a miasma of marginal gains. Chapeau! @AmySedghi — Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 23, 2023

Jonas Vingegaard has won the 110th edition of the Tour de France . It’s the Dane’s second year in a row winning the yellow jersey. Here’s what he had to say after today’s stage:

What was the feeling when you crossed the line? It’s a feeling of being proud. I’m happy of course – we’re winning it for the second time and it’s amazing. Today with all the spectators, all the Danish people here, it was really amazing and I have to say thank you, not only to my team and family, but to all the of Denmark. They support me as well and I’m really grateful for this.”

Can you describe the journey from Bilbao? “It’s been a long journey but it’s also went by so fast. We race everyday…it’s been a super hard race and a super good fight between me and Tadej [Pogacar]. I really enjoyed it all the way.”

What can we expect from you? “Of course, I hope to come back next year to see if I can take the third win. At least try it. I think that would be the plan.”

What would you want your daughter to think of you when she’s older? “Just that I was a good father…that I was there for her when she needed me.”

Today’s stage winner Meeus speaks: “I knew in the previous sprints that I [had] more than the results I’ve shown so far. [Today] everything went perfect and I was super happy to finish it off.”

“I felt good all day: the beginning was easy, obviously, but from the moment we went full gas my legs felt incredibly good. Then Marco Haller did a perfect job of positioning [me]. It’s my first tour. It was a super nice experience already and to take the win today is an indescribable feeling.”

Top five on stage 21

1. Jordi Meeus (Bora Hansgrohe) 2. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) 3. Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco Alula) 4. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 5. Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan Team)

Sagan sums up how everyone in the peloton must be feeling: “I’m tired,” he tells the Eurosport reporter. He doesn’t have much more to add.

An exciting finish… It was quite difficult to see who had taken that as there were a mix of green jerseys crossing the line together, but an overjoyed Meeus has clinched it. That was an exciting sprint to watch: Pogacar lead the group out with 1km to give a final flourish, Philipsen look well placed yet didn’t win and Meeus crossed the line to take the victory.

Jordi Meeus pips Jasper Philipsen on the line to win stage 21

Jordi Meeus of Bora-Hansgrohe pips Jasper Philipsen on the line. Philipsen can’t believe it and is shaking his head. That was quite unexpected…

2km to go: The sprint trains are forming. Lidl-Trek, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Uno-X and Jayco Alula are all up there. The yellow jersey have dropped back to stay out of danger and let get on with it.

5km to go: A few riders are still trying to push off the front, including Omar Fraile and Victor Campenaerts but it’s only going to end one way. I think we’re sure to see a bunch sprint and Jasper Philipsen would surely love to take this.

8km to go: Well, Sean Kelly was right. The breakaway has been caught and the riders are all back together. Magnus Cort briefly tries to get away but he’s reeled back in. We’re coming round to the final bell…

11km to go: Stefan Küng has had a mechanical. The peloton are closing in on Frison, Clarke and Oliveira but they seem to be letting them go again. Carlton Kirby on Eurosport is saying that there are some spots of localised drizzle and there is a corner that if it gets wet, has him worried.

13km to go: Hindley has managed to get back on to the peloton. The lap board is stating two laps to go! Next time round the riders will get the bell. It’s exciting.

16km to go: Seventh placed in the GC, Jai Hindley has had a bike change as his chain dropped. Frison, Clarke and Oliveira have 17sec on the group and are riding at around 55kmph.

20km to go: Sean Kelly isn’t sure that this three-man break is going to stick. While we wait to see if he’s right, I thought I’d share an email that’s landed in my inbox. Margaret asks: “Those energy bars that they all eat…are they wrapped differently to the bars we buy in the stores? Because I certainly need two hands (and occasionally a pair of scissors) to get into them. I wouldn’t ever contemplate trying to open one on a bicycle going at the speeds they reach.” I haven’t tried one of the pro-teams’ bars so can’t say but my soigneur (aka boyfriend) suspects that they might use a thinner wrapper that is easier to tear (although this has not been independently verified).

22km to go: It was looking like the trio were going to be swallowed up but the gap has gone back out to about 17 sec. The sprinters’ teams are probably happy to have a break of only three riders as they will be able to bring them back in later.

28km to go: It’s a slim lead of 8sec for the trio. Pogacar doesn’t let up and wants to join in the fun.

31km to go: The attackers have been reeled in, but hang on a moment, we have another attack. This time it’s Simon Clarke, followed by Frederik Frison and Nelson Oliveira.

33km to go: Michal Kwiatkowski, Alberto Bettiol, Nils Politt, Alex Edmondson, Harold Tejada, Yves Lampaert and Skjelmose have joined Pogacar and Van Hooydonck in the breakaway group. They have a very slender lead of 5sec.

Tadej Pogacar wins the intermediate sprint

Pogacar crossed the line first to take the intermediate sprint, with Van Hooydonck following. The results are:

1. Tadej Pogacar, 20 pts 2. Nathan van Hooydonck, 17 pts 3. Bryan Coquard, 15 pts 4. Alberto Bettiol, 13 pts 5. Nikias Arndt, 11 pts 6. Kevin Geniets, 10 pts 7. Michal Kwiatkowski, 9 pts 8. Axel Zingle, 8 pts 9. Rémi Cavagna, 7 pts 10. Lawson Craddock, 6 pts 11. Alex Edmondson, 5 pts 12. Nils Politt, 4 pts 13. Omar Fraile, 3 pts 14. Mattias Skjelmose, 2 pts 15. Harold Tejada, 1 pt

🏁 40KM 💚 @TamauPogi is first at the intermediate sprint @NVHooydonck behind. 💚 @TamauPogi est le premier au sprint intermédiaire, avec @NVHooydonck juste derrière. #TDF2023 @WeLoveCyclingFR pic.twitter.com/Rhz3BRxdov — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 23, 2023

37km to go: With the Tour de France 2023 coming to a close, many fans have been reflecting on their favourite moments. Michael has emailed in from Calgary in Canada to share his highlight: “As a Canadian, I have to be happy with the stage win this year by Michael Woods. It was a fantastic performance.” He’s also wondering about the team standings and asks “does anybody care at all about the team standings? The Tour diligently publishes them, but do they matter even slightly? (I wish they did - just like I wish there would be a team time trial every year.)"

41km to go: Six laps to go and Pogacar and Van Hooydonck are off the front with a very modest 10sec. Another group are splitting off the chasing group and another…the peloton is fracturing.

43km to go: I stand corrected. The coverage is showing that the roads have had a bit of rain on them but hopefully, not enough for it to be an issue. Van Hooydonck has decided to take turns and as a result, him and Pogacar have got the gap up to 15sec.

47km to go: Pogacar has attacked for a bit of fun. The crowd are loving it. The man certainly can entertain. Nathan Van Hooydonck of Jumbo-Visma is stuck on his wheel and refusing to do a turn.

53km to go: Earlier on the commentary, there was quite a bit of chat about whether the weather would hold or if the riders would face a wet sprint. Not a fun thought over those cobbles. So far, the weather looks to have behaved and the roads seem dry. A few riders have tried attacking already but had their efforts quickly shut down.

55km to go: The riders are on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and have crossed the finish line for the first time. They will have eight laps before we have a final stage winner. Let the racing proper begin…

57km to go: Make sure to wave David! The riders are putting on a show with what looks like a beautifully synchronised dance through the Louvre museum.

60km to go: The peloton are passing by the Jardin du Luxembourg currently and it’s about 5km until they hit the Champs Élysées. The pace has upped slightly towards 31kmph.

63km to go: Hello to David, who has emailed in from nearby to the Louvre. He’s asking what time the peloton will be heading past. I’m not 100% sure but would guess very soon as they’re gathering pace.

66km to go: So far, the peloton have ridden past the Palace of Versailles and crested the only categorised climb today, at the pavé des Gardes. Aptly, Ciccone is the first to get over it in all his polka-dots, after his teammates, Mads Pedersen and Mattias Skjelmose jokingly lead him out. The riders are just coming in to Paris now and the Eiffel Tower is within sight.

⛰ Côte du Pavé des Gardes (cat. 4️⃣) ⛰ 1️⃣ 🇮🇹 @giuliocicco1 , 1pt ⚪️🔴 Tout de pois vêtu, 🇮🇹 Giulio Ciccone prend symboliquement le dernier point disponible au sommet de la dernière difficulté répertoriée de ce  #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/rSvVjhuqi0 — Maillot à Pois E.Leclerc (@maillotapois) July 23, 2023

73km to go: In answer to Justin’s question about who got closest to finishing the Tour without finishing, there have been a few emails. One mentions the German rider Tony Martin, who abandoned on the Champs Élysées during the 2016 Tour de France due to unexplained knee pain. To give some context to that, Martin told Cycling Weekly that he wanted to go home, find out what was going on with his knee and prepare for the Olympic time trial in Rio.

A couple of readers (hi Simon, hi David) have emailed in to mention Djamolidine Abdoujaparov. A quick search has brought up his name in this Guardian piece about the most memorable finishes on the Champs-Élysées:

“In 1991, elbows-out sprinter Djamolodine Abdoujaparov wore green into the final stage (despite controversy after he had forced Johan Musseeuw into the barriers on an earlier stage ) but crashed on the final sprint – yet clung on to the jersey when the team got him over the line. But that finish pales into insignificance next to the 1989 finish, when Greg LeMond overcame his deficit to Laurent Fignon to time trial his way to victory in 1989 .”

85km to go: There are a number of riders sealing their final Tour appearance today, including Thibaut Pinot (Groupama–FDJ) and Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies).

92km to go: An email from Justin in Spain has come in and it is asking a question that I have also pondered (but don’t know the answer to).

He asks: “Perhaps a tasteless question but yesterday I found myself wondering who has got closest to finishing Le Tour without actually getting there. Do you or any readers know who holds that unhappy distinction? (I do not include riders who have gone down in tbe (sic) final stretch but been given finishing times nonetheless.)“ If anyone knows, then please share…

93km to go: The average pace has dropped to under 26kmph. That’s the kind of pace club riders can do and I could possibly…at a push. Adam Blythe has been given a glass of Champagne by one of the team in the Jumbo-Visma car. I’m quite jealous…

96km to go: Pogacar and Vingegaard really do deliver when it comes to interesting Tour de France stats, but here is one I’ve selected from the official Tour website that might be good for a pub quiz…

“For the third consecutive year, the first two on the final podium are the same (Pogacar-Vingegaard in 2021, the other way around in 2022 and 2023): it had never happened previously.”

100km to go: As mentioned previously, I am enjoying the slower pace and light-hearted jokes from the peloton today. I’m fresh from covering the first stage of the Tour de France Femmes , so that is why.

Before anything too serious happens on this stage, I’d like to share a personal highlight from this year’s Tour: Pogacar and his pronunciation of French pastries.

🥐 Tadej Pogacar with the perfect pronunciation of "croissant" 😂 @TamauPogi | @TeamEmiratesUAE | #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/zfplNBjPTR — Eurosport (@eurosport) July 8, 2023

103km to go: Some of the riders are casually chatting, while others are putting their arms on each others shoulders for a nice team pic. On Eurosport, Vingegaard has been speaking about his win and the news that he’ll be racing next at the La Vuelta a España:

“It’s super nice to win it for the second time…I’m more confident and more relaxed in this situation now and I think that’s the biggest difference for me. I really enjoyed the rivalry with Tadej [Pogacar]. It’s been an amazing fight from Bilbao to here today. It’s good for cycling, it’s good for us…but I’m glad I won.” Jumbo-Visma confirmed today that the Dane will be racing at La Vuelta and Vingegaard says it has been the plan all along but they were waiting to release the news.

109km to go: If ever there was any doubt that Giulio Ciccone was reveling in wearing the polka-dot jersey, then take a look at the man today. He’s even got a polka-dot bike…

112km to go: As is the tradition, the peloton are starting at a slow pace to soak up and enjoy atmosphere. They are celebrating their achievements over the last three weeks and having a nice time. Unfortunately, Victor Lafay (Cofidisis) not among them as he has not started today. I’m sure he’ll be happy though with that win on stage two – a big moment for Cofidisis.

The racing on stage 21 has begun...with a touch of fun to start

113km to go: Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) had a cheeky attack off the front but he soon slows up and winks at the camera. He was just having a bit off fun as the super combative rider of the Tour. I’m looking forward to some more light-hearted fun during this stage. Bring it on.

Who’s wearing what jersey?

Yellow: Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 79hr 16min 38sec

Green: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 377pts

Polka-dot: Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) 105pts

White: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates)

The top five on General Classification

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 79hr 16min 38sec

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) +7min 29sec

Adam Yates (UAE Emirates) +10min 56sec

Simon Yates (Jayco-Ulula) +12min 23sec

Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +13min 17sec

Pello Bilbao, Jai Hindley, Felix Gall, David Gaudu and Guillaume Martin make up the top 10.

Jonas Vingegaard to win Tour de France again as Pogacar takes stage 20

In case you missed yesterday’s stage, here is the stage 20 report to get you up to speed: Jonas Vingegaard in effect sealed back-to-back wins in the Tour de France after defending his overall lead in the final mountain stage of the three-week race. With only Sunday’s processional stage to central Paris to come, the Dane will, barring accidents, wear the final yellow jersey on the Champs-Élysées.

The stage 21 roll-out is under way

Smiling faces across the front of the peloton as the riders roll out for their final stage of the 2023 Tour de France . I can imagine they are all happy to have made it to Paris after a fast, hectic and tiring three weeks.

Saint Quentin en Yvelines-Paris Champs Élysées, 115km

William Fotheringham on stage 21: A hint of the Paris 2024 Games with a start at the national velodrome before the run-in to the finish on the Champs Élysées, where the sprinters can strut their stuff. This is the last time we will see the Tour here for a couple of years, as next year’s Olympics mean the finish moves to Nice and a final time trial, the first time the Tour has finished outside the capital since 1905.

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Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay makes Tour de France history, becoming the first black rider to win stage

Sport Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay makes Tour de France history, becoming the first black rider to win stage

Eritrea's Biniam Girmay has made history, becoming the first black rider to win a Tour de France stage. 

Girmay said his sprint win in the mostly flat third leg of this year's race was "for all Africans".

"We must be proud now. We are really part of the big races," he said. "Now it's our moment. It's our time."

Before the podium celebration, Girmay went over and greeted Eritrean fans waving their country's green, red and blue flag.

"There is a whole continent that has been waiting for this," said Aike Visbeek, the performance director for Girmay's Intermarche-Wanty team. 

"It's been done now, and I hope it will open the floodgates for more riders from Africa. He's an ambassador in every way."

Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish's pursuit of a record-breaking 35th stage win was postponed by a crash ahead of him in the finale, and Olympic champion Richard Carapaz took the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar, making him the first Ecuadorean to lead cycling's biggest race.

Girmay also made history in Italy two years ago when he won a stage at the Giro d'Italia to become the first black African to take a victory in a Grand Tour.

But Girmay's Giro victory was marred when he was rushed to a hospital after getting hit in the left eye by a prosecco cork he popped open during the podium celebration — forcing him to abandon the race.

Also in 2022, Girmay became the first rider from a sub-Saharan country to win a single-day classic at the Gent-Wevelgem race.

Riders from only one other African country — South Africa — have won Tour stages: Robert Hunter (2007) and Daryl Impey (2019). Four-time Tour champion Chris Froome was born and raised in Kenya but represented Britain.

The 231 kilometre leg from Piacenza to Turin — the longest stage of this Tour — provided the first chance for a mass sprint. There will be at least a handful of other opportunities for sprinters as the race prepares to cross back into France following the first four stages in Italy.

With time to start raising his arms before he crossed the line, Girmay finished just ahead of Fernando Gaviria and Arnaud De Lie.

Cavendish has been tied with Eddy Merckx on 34 wins for three years and put off retirement to try again this year to break the record.

Members of the Israel-Premier Tech team fell ahead of Cavendish, who crossed 113th but was given the same finishing time as Girmay as per rules that neutralise the times in case of crashes in the final five kilometres.

"I was just looking to stay up. I'm too little to see what's going on but I could hear it," Cavendish said. 

"Someone skidded and I was just waiting for someone to hit from behind. Luckily they didn't and we kind of got through, but we were way off it and with 2.5K to go we were out of it. I don't think anybody was seriously hurt and that's the main thing."

Cavendish complimented Girmay, who won a reduced sprint.

"That's just massive. Cycling is massive in Eritrea. It's super good for him and for African cycling," Cavendish said. "He's a legend, isn't he?"

Pogacar dropped to second overall, with the same time as Carapaz.

Remco Evenepoel — the 2022 world champion and Spanish Vuelta winner — is third overall; and two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is fourth, both also with the same time as Carapaz.

Danish rider Casper Pedersen had to abandon the race after falling with 15 kilometres to go and breaking his collarbone.

The race crosses back into France on Tuesday during Stage 4, the first big mountain leg going up to Sestriere and over the Col du Galibier — one of the Tour's classic climbs — in the 140-kilometre route from Pinerolo to Valloire.

Pogacar, who won the Tour in 2020 and 2021, and Vingegaard will be favoured to take the yellow jersey from Carapaz, who won the Giro in 2019 before taking gold in Tokyo three years ago.

"Tomorrow will be a big day," Carapaz said. "It will be complicated. I'm going to try and give everything. I'm going to try and enjoy every single moment in the yellow jersey."

The ABC of SPORT

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