Stage 20: Belfort > Le Markstein Fellering (July 22)

TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 20: Mountain Stage 8 of 8

133 km (83 miles) / 3464 m (11,365’)

BELFORT>LE MARKSTEIN FELLERING

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Letour.fr Stage 20

KOM CORNER

Official post-race summary for Stage 20 (July 22) - Letour.fr - Stage 20

POGACAR-VINGEGAARD TILL THE END

TOUR DE FRANCE 2023 | STAGE 20 | BELFORT > LE MARKSTEIN FELLERING

The duel between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar lasted till the very end of the very last mountain stage of the 110th Tour de France as the Slovenian outsprinted the Dane at Le Markstein to claim his 11th stage win, the second one this year. Felix Gall placed himself between them and Vingegaard retained the yellow jersey on the eve of the grand finale in Paris, but the second last stage was truly the expected fireworks for Thibaut Pinot who rode alone in the lead in front of his fans before crossing the line in seventh position.

NO OPPOSITION TO CICCONE FOR THE POLKA DOT JERSEY

The start proper of stage 20 was given to 151 riders at 13.44. As usual, Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) was the first attacker, accompanied this time by his team-mate Jasper De Buyst. Up to Ballon d’Alsace, Campenaerts soloed until he was reeled in 4.4km before the summit. The peloton was compact at the top and the sprint for the KOM was won by Giulio Ciccone who appeared as the only rider interested to contest the polka dot jersey among the four who were still mathematically in the situation of winning it. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), 4th overall, crashed at km 33. Once he made it back to the pack, a group of 16 riders including Jonas Vingegaard but not Tadej Pogacar. The yellow jersey eventually sat up to give a chance to the breakaway to succeed.

PINOT’S LAST DANCE IN FRONT OF HIS FANS

Some of these attackers managed to stay away and formed a 6-man leading group with 80km to go: Ciccone and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Maxime Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny). A counter-attack involved Thibaut Pinot, Valentin Madouas, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost), Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) and Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich). Pinot made it across by himself on the way up to col de Grosse Pierre eventually crested in first position by Ciccone. It became a group of 10 with 63km to go with Madouas, Uran and Vermaerke reaching the lead after Harper. Ciccone mathematically won the KOM competition at col de la Schlucht 54km before the end.

A WINNING SPRINT FOR POGACAR AT THE END

UAE Team Emirates chased hard at the helm of the main peloton. Up to Petit Ballon, Madouas, Pinot, Ciccone, Pidcock and Barguil got a maximum advantage of 1’30’’ over the yellow jersey group. 5.5km before the summit, Pinot went solo. He crested Petit Ballon alone after being hugely celebrated by his fans for his last mountain stage in the Tour de France. In the yellow jersey group reduced to ten riders, Pogacar attacked for the first time 14km before the end. The trio Pogacar-Vingegaard-Gall passed Pinot, who had been rejoined by Barguil and Pidcock, 3km before the summit of Platzerwasel and went on to contest the stage victory. Simon and Adam Yates caught up with the leading trio with 5km to go. It helped Pogacar win the stage as he received the help of Adam Yates as a lead out man while Simon Yates overtook Rodriguez to reach the fourth place overall.

Pogačar wins the stage while Ciccone remains KOM.

Letour.fr

STAGE 20 DETAILS AND STATISTICS

• Location:   Vosges Mountains
• Distance: 133 kilometers / 83 miles
• Altitude Gained: 3,464 meters / 11,365’
• Percentage Grade:

• 47.5% (64 kilometers / 40 miles) descent
• 26.7% (36 kilometers /  22 miles) 0-5%
• 22.5% (30 kilometers / 19 miles) 5-10%
• 3.1% (4.2 kilometers / 2.5 miles) 10-15%

• Steepest::

• 500 meters 10.7% / ¼ mile 12.3%
• 1 Kilometer 10.3% / 1 mile 9.6%

• Highest Point on the Route: 1,273 meters / 4,178’
• Lowest Point on the Route: 380 meters / 1,248’

COMMENTS FROM RACE DIRECTOR CHRISTIAN PRUDHOMME - STAGE 20:

“The penultimate stage features an Alsatian menu that is likely to cause indigestion, even over a distance this short, as the riders face a cumulative total of 3,600 metres of climbing. If the contest for the Yellow Jersey is still alive, anything is possible: after the Ballon d’Alsace, there will be an opportunity to launch attacks on the Col de la Croix des Moinats, then a little bit further on when climbing the Col de Grosse Pierre, then on the Schlucht, before then tackling the Petit Ballon and the Platzerwasel... It’s a minefield!” (Tour de France Stage 20).

TOP CLIMBS ON STAGE 20 OF THE 2023 TOUR DE FRANCE

Letour.fr Stage 20

Ballon d'Alsace - first climb ever in TdF; 28 appearances since 1905

PJAMM Cycling Profile Tool for Ballon d'Alsace

Ballon d’Alsace is one of the most historic bike climbs in the world - Ballon d’Alsace was the first official mountain climb in the TdF, appearing on Stage 2, July 11, 1905.

Col de la Croix des Moinats - Featured twice in the TdF - 2014 and 2023

PJAMM Cycling Profile Tool for Col de la Croix des Moinats

Col de Grosse Pierre (featured 10 times in the TdF from 1913 to 2023

PJAMM Cycling Profile Tool for Col de Grosse Pierre

The Col de Grosse-Pierre has been included in 10 Tour de France races from 1913 to 2023.   The climb is most often categorized as 3, but was a Cat 2 in 2012. The gradient is very consistent throughout and 83% of the climb is between 5-10%.

Col de la Schlucht - 11 appearances in the TdF since 1931

PJAMM Cycling Profile Tool - Col de la Schlucht

Petit Ballon - first appearance in the TdF 2023

PJAMM Cycling Profile Tool - Petit Ballon

Col du Platzerwasel - included in the TdF 4 times since 1967

PJAMM Cycling Profile Tool - Col du Platzerwasel

Summary of Gradient: