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Carapaz wins Stage 20
Richard Carapaz won the Tour de France’s 20th stage on Saturday on the 170.9-kilometer alpine trek into Alpe d’Huez, while Tadej Pogacar finished fourth as he moved within reach of a record-equalling fifth title.
“Carapaz passed Kuss after his second solo crash and went on to the stage victory”
The stage unfolded with Sepp Kuss of the United States holding a comfortable lead with just over 7 kilometers remaining before crashing against a curb while exiting a tunnel and then crashing again with 5.8 kilometers left, losing enough time to finish third behind Carapaz and Remco Evenepoel.
Pogacar’s yellow jersey group stayed controlled as Carapaz and Kuss battled near the finish, and the Slovenian entered Sunday’s shortened finale on the Champs-Élysées with a 6-minute, 26-second lead over Evenepoel.
The 20th stage included hors catégorie climbs of Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Galibier and Col de Sarenne, plus the category 1 climb of Col du Télégraphe, totaling 66 kilometers of hard climbing before a finish at Alpe d’Huez.
With Sunday’s final stage shortened due to wildfires elsewhere in France, the stage will be only 89km long and start on the Champs-Élysées, where two laps of the avenue will be followed by circuits of the Butte Montmartre.
Safety and near-misses
Kuss’s near-disaster became a defining storyline of Stage 20, with Field Level Media describing how he crashed against a curb after exiting a tunnel and then again with 5.8 kilometers remaining, before Carapaz overtook him near the end.
A separate account from AOL.co.uk said the second crash was “particularly harrowing,” describing how Kuss “nearly went over the road barrier and would have fallen down the side of the mountain if not for a protective fence catching him.”
NBC Sports reported that Kuss lost control with five kilometers left when he “mismatched a turn” and almost tumbled over a roadside concrete barrier, with crash netting cushioning him.
Pogacar chose not to launch one of his attacks as he did when winning Friday’s 19th stage, and instead finished safely to keep his lead into Sunday.
As the Tour’s final day approaches, the Guardian said the ministry of the interior decided to redeploy internal security forces to reinforce wildfire response efforts in areas affected by wildfires.
Sunday’s shortened finale
Sunday’s final Stage 21 is now “mostly ceremonial” but still carries a decisive sporting outcome, with Pogacar needing only to cross the finish line to secure his third consecutive Tour de France title.
“All that remains is Sunday’s mostly ceremonial final Stage 21”
Field Level Media put Pogacar’s lead at 6-minute, 26-second over Evenepoel going into the finale, while also listing Isaac Del Toro in third at 9:42 and Paul Seixas in fourth overall.
The Guardian framed the race’s altered logistics as part of a wildfire-driven security shift, saying the Tour organiser ASO issued a joint statement with the prefecture police about redeploying internal security forces.
With the Tour’s penultimate day ending with Carapaz taking the polka-dot jersey for top climber, the stage also left the mountains classification effectively settled as Carapaz secured maximum points on the climbs.
As the Tour heads into Paris, the Guardian reported that wildfires around the Arcachon lagoon near Bordeaux and around Biscarrosse in the Landes had destroyed more than 36,000 hectares of forest.
