Brave Jo is Vin it to win it in Paris
JONAS VINGEGAARD is set to win the Tour de France after finishing second to his JumboVisma team-mate Wout van Aert in the stage 20 time trial to Rocamadour.
Van Aert won the 40.7km challenge from Lacapelle-Marival in a time of 47 minutes 59.86 seconds – 19 seconds faster than Vingegaard.
The yellow jersey holder only needed to ride defensively given his sizable cushion over Tadej Pogacar, but instead he attacked the stage and was fastest over the first half.
He then faded, almost running wide on a descent late on, but his second place was enough to confirm him in yellow ahead of today’s ride into Paris, his advantage over Pogacar three minutes and 34 seconds.
Welshman Geraint Thomas finished fourth on the stage, behind Pogacar in third, to confirm his third place overall.
It is a first overall Tour crown for Vingegaard, 25, coming a year after he trailed Pogacar.
This time he wrestled the yellow jersey off the Slovenian when the UAE Team Emirates man suffered a crisis on the Col du Granon in the second week of the race.
And Vingegaard has successfully defended it through the Pyrenees.
It means that JumboVisma head to Paris with the yellow, green and polka-dot jerseys.
Van Aert, who became the first man to win a Tour time trial in the green jersey since Bernard Hinault in 1979, cannot be caught in the points classification, while Vingegaard is top of both the general classification and the king of the mountains competition.
It was a third win of the Tour for Van Aert, who said: “I hoped to take the stage and also for Jonas secure his yellow. He’s got such a big heart and he’s done that.”