Jonas Vingegaard extends Tour de France lead with victory on stage 18

A handshake from Tadej Pogacar to Jonas Vingegaard showed gratitude for a moment of great sportsmanship but could yet double as the defending champion’s concession after Vingegaard moved to the brink of Tour de France glory on Thursday.

The pace set by Vingegaard’s outstanding team-mate Wout Van Aert proved too much for Pogacar in the last four kilometres of the Tour’s final mountain stage, allowing Vingegaard to ride away to his second stage win and first in the yellow jersey.

Putting more than a minute into Pogacar by the summit of the Hautacam, the Jumbo-Visma rider stretched his lead to three minutes 26 seconds, with Saturday’s time trial expected to be the last real chance to create significant time gaps.

Pogacar knew he needed to put the pressure on during this 143km stage from Lourdes, and looked to the tight, twisty descent off the penultimate climb, the Col de Spandelles, to do it.

It looked like working – Vingegaard almost lost control on a left-hander before rebalancing – but moments later it was Pogacar who went wide. With his tyres in the gravel, Pogacar slipped and went down.

Rather than push on, Vingegaard waited for Pogacar to recover, and accepted the outstretched hand from the UAE Team Emirates rider as he drew up alongside.

Pogacar was urged to attack again by his team director but the Slovenian shook his head and, hobbled with blood running from the back of his left thigh, he would be left behind on the climb to the finish.

“There couldn’t be a better way to lose the Tour de France than this,” the 23-year-old said. “I gave it all today thinking of the GC. I will leave the race with no regrets…

“I have nothing but respect to Jonas Vingegaard. I think we respect each other a lot…It was fine for him to