Jonas Vingegaard almost ended a repeat Tour de France title after his only close rival, Tadej Pogacar, fell on the final climb of Wednesday’s 17th stage.
Denmark’s Vingegaard won by 5 minutes and 47 seconds over Pogacar, the 2020 and 2021 Tour champion of Slovenia, to extend his overall lead by a mammoth 7:35.
Four stages remain, only one of which is expected to be competitive for the top riders in the general classification.
Pogacar was dropped from the group of general classification contenders about five miles from the summit of Wednesday’s final climb. He crashed before the stage.
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“I’m gone,” Pogacar was heard saying on his team radio. “I’m dead.”
Minutes later, Vingegaard, behind teammate Wilco Kelderman, pulled away from what was left of that group with three and a half miles to the summit.
Before reaching the top of the Loze pass, they had to stop for a few seconds behind a red car in a congested area surrounded by spectators.
Vingegaard couldn’t catch stage winner Felix Gall of Austria or Britain’s Simon Yates, but his fourth place on the day was more than enough given the gap to Pogacar.
In the last two days, Vingegaard turned one of the closest Tours in history into a near done deal.
He led Pogacar by 10 seconds heading into this final week of the 21-stage Grand Tour, then pulled away from Pogacar by 98 seconds in Tuesday’s time trial, the most dominant Tour time trial performance since 1962.
Wednesday was billed as the Queen Stage of this year’s Tour, the most difficult of the eight mountain stages.
It had four ascents of category two and above with a total of more than 5,000 meters of difference, topped off by the category beyond the Col de la Loze just before the descent to the finish.
The Tour continues on Thursday with a hilly stage with a pair of gentle fourth-category climbs. It could be the sprinters’ first day since July 12.
Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen has won four of the five sprint stages so far. The last rider to win five stages in a Tour was Germany’s Marcel Kittel in 2017.
Saturday is likely the final competitive stage for the overall podium places in Paris. This 20th, penultimate stage has six climbs, including two first category climbs near the end.
