Tadej Pogacar restores some pride with thrilling Tour de France stage win

Tadej Pogacar restored some damaged pride after sealing a thrilling victory on Stage 20 of the Tour de France on Saturday.

The UAE Team Emirates rider had seen his hopes of winning a third title evaporate this week after first being trounced by defending champion Jonas Vingegaard in the time-trial on Wednesday.

Then 24 hours later – on a gruelling Stage 17 with 69 kilometres of Alpine climbs – Pogacar cracked completely to leave his Danish rival seven minutes and 35 seconds clear in the overall standings.

But on the final day of competitive racing before Sunday's processional stage to Paris, Pogacar claimed victory after 133.5 kilometres of racing from Belfort, outsprinting Austrian Felix Gall for his second win in this year's race.

Overall, Jumbo-Visma rider Vingegaard leads Pogacar by seven min and 29 sec with the Slovenian's teammate Adam Yates in third position, 10 min 56 sec off the pace.

“We have to be careful not to do anything stupid but, yeah, it’s amazing to take my second victory in the Tour de France and I almost cannot believe it,” Vingegaard said.

Italian Giulio Ciccone secured the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification and Belgian Jasper Philipsen is set to win the green jersey for the points classification, providing that they both cross the finish line in Paris.

Tadej Pogačar returns to winning ways