Carapaz wins Tour's queen stage at Alpe d'Huez as Pogacar locks up yellow, Kuss crashes twice

Carapaz capitalises on Kuss misfortune

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) won the queen stage of the 113th Tour de France on Saturday, reaching the summit of Alpe d'Huez 26 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel and 31 seconds ahead of Sepp Kuss. The American had been leading the race before crashing twice in the final kilometres, at one point nearly going over the edge and being saved only by a safety net. Carapaz, who had been dropped by Kuss on the Col de Sarenne, gradually reeled him in on the descent and took the lead for good after the second crash with 5.8 km remaining.

I gave everything on the Sarenne to come back. Sepp was very strong, but the descent was complicated and I was able to catch him.

The Ecuadorian's victory, his second of this Tour after Stage 18 at Orcières-Merlette, also secured the polka-dot jersey for best climber. His main rival for the classification, Valentin Paret-Peintre, cracked on the slopes of the Galibier. Carapaz, 33, now has ten Grand Tour stage wins: three on the Tour, four on the Giro, and three on the Vuelta.

Pogacar plays luxury domestique

Tadej Pogacar finished just over a minute behind Carapaz, riding in the company of UAE Team Emirates teammate Isaac del Toro. The defending champion spent the day encouraging Del Toro across four Alpine climbs, the Croix de Fer, Télégraphe, Galibier, and Sarenne, ceding ground to Evenepoel in the finale knowing the Belgian, second overall, posed no threat with a deficit of over seven minutes at the start of the day. Pogacar leads Evenepoel by 6:26 and Del Toro by 9:42 heading into the final stage.

The Sarenne was ridden in silence, closed to spectators for safety and environmental reasons following the frenzy of the 21 hairpins the previous day. It was on this climb that Del Toro's acceleration finally shed Paul Seixas.

The plan was to protect Isaac. I told him this morning — 'Today I am your domestique.' He has shown incredible maturity for his age.

Seixas cracks but holds fourth

Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM), the youngest rider to take part in the Tour de France since 1937, cracked under Del Toro's pace on the Col de Sarenne but limited his losses to hold fourth place overall at 11:56. The 19-year-old, who had never previously raced more than eight days in a single event, had attacked Del Toro on the Sarenne in an attempt to reach the podium. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) finished fifth, the only other rider to follow the Pogacar-Del Toro-Evenepoel trio on that climb.

I tried everything. Del Toro was just too strong today. But fourth place for my first Tour — I cannot complain.

All jerseys decided before Paris

The 20th stage also confirmed Mads Pedersen's green jersey. The Danish sprinter, present in the breakaway, gathered enough points at the intermediate sprint to put the classification beyond reach. With the yellow, polka-dot, and green jerseys now mathematically sealed, and Del Toro effectively locked in third, the general classification is frozen barring incident.

The final stage to Paris on Sunday has been shortened to 89 km to ease the burden on security services deployed to fight forest fires, particularly in the Gironde region.