Nog 44 km – Harry Sweeny has already gained quite some space from the chasing group, while it is raining hard again. The Australian has a lead of 50 seconds.
Nog 50 km – Jegat has been caught by the chasing group with Van den Broek and Eenkhoorn again. Sweeny is still riding ahead of the large group.
Nog 51 km – Bike change for Jonas Vingegaard! The Dane drops back to the team car for a moment.
Nog 56 km – The group with Van Aert hasn’t really managed to get closer yet. The current state of affairs:
There is hardly anything to notice of the bad weather conditions earlier in the stage.
Nog 61 km – Van Aert and his four companions are trying to connect with the leading group, but are still 2 minutes and 25 seconds behind Sweeny and Jegat. The peloton is about 1 minute behind the group with Van Aert.
Nog 62 km – Sweeny also rides away from the leading group! The EF Education rider quickly connects with Jordan Jegat. So we now have a duo at the front.
Nog 63 km – Jegat rides away from the leading group! What is he planning? You can’t imagine him riding solo to the finish from here?
Nog 63 km – Van Aert is also launching a counter-attack now! The Visma-Lease a Bike rider has to make up quite some time, but the tempo is good with the Belgian.
Nog 64 km – A French counter-attack on the Côte de Thésy! Axel Laurance and Mathis Le Berre create a gap with the peloton. But will they manage to ride to the leading group? It’s still quite far.
Nog 65 km – The peloton has also started the second category climb now. What happens to the time difference with the leading group?
Nog 66 km – The leading group has started the Côte de Thésy! Will this group fall apart here, or will they keep each other in sight?
Nog 70 km – The difference between the leading group and the peloton has increased again slightly, to 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Furthermore, not much is happening in the last kilometers. We are almost starting the toughest climb of the day: the Côte de Thésy (3.5 kilometers at 9 percent). The Thésy is of the second category.
Nog 80 km – Mauro Schmid from Jayco-AlUla just had a hard fall in the peloton, but he is now riding at the front of the peloton. Thanks to him, the leading group is not able to ride further away than 2 minutes and 10 seconds for the time being.
The following teams do not have a rider in the leading group:
The thirteen riders in the leading group are all from a different team! The group with Frank van den Broek and Pascal Eenkhoorn still has a lead of 2 minutes and 5 seconds.
Nog 90 km – There have already been two long climbs. But still, the tempo of this stage averages 46 kilometers per hour.
Nog 95 km – Pogacar stops for a pee break, and so the difference between the leading group and the peloton increases to 2 minutes and 10 seconds.
Nog 101 km – Crash! Ai! In a short stretch downhill, Clément Champoussin crashes hard. He slides meters further.
Nog 108 km – Watson and Van Moer are trying to catch up with the leading group. The current state of affairs:
Nog 112 km – Crash! Oei! Mauro Schmid crashes very hard in the descent… Let’s hope the damage is limited for the Swiss champion.
Nog 119 km – The group with Van den Broek and Eenkhoorn connects with the trio at the front! So we now have a leading group of thirteen.
Nog 120 km – The weather is clearing up somewhat in France. The sun is slowly coming out.
The battle for overall victory is basically over. But Tadej Pogacar keeps a close eye on Jonas Vingegaard.
Nog 126 km – The ten chasers of Wellens, Jorgenson and Costiou: Jegat, Grégoire, Sweeny, Velasco, Van den Broek, Eenkhoorn, Groves, Trentin, Romeo and Stewart.
Nog 128 km – Pascal Eenkhoorn and Frank van den Broek are the two Dutch riders in the chasing group. They ride about 10 seconds behind the leading group of three, the peloton follows the chasing group again at 15 seconds.
Nog 130 km – Van den Broek and the other chasers seem to be connecting with Wellens, Jorgenson and Costiou again.
Nog 134 km – But Van den Broek has already lost sight of the leading group again. In these harsh weather conditions, the race situation changes every minute. Currently, Tim Wellens, Matteo Jorgenson and Ewen Costiou have a gap compared to the thinned peloton. 15 seconds is the difference between the trio and the peloton.
Nog 136 km – What was left of the peloton is also completely breaking apart. It is truly a battlefield in this penultimate stage of the Tour de France.
Nog 139 km – Tim Wellens with the acceleration at 1 kilometer from the top of the climb! The Belgian champion already won a stage earlier in this Tour, what can he do today?
On this photo, it is easy to see that the weather conditions are not great, in the penultimate stage of the Tour de France.
Nog 140 km – The front peloton currently only consists of about 35 riders, the large group has already been thinned out very early. Among others, Oscar Onley is not with the front group. Onley is number four in the classification and second in the youth classification.
Nog 143 km – We are heading towards a regrouping again. The large group at the front is being caught by the peloton again.
Nog 144 km – We seem to have a group that has broken away from the peloton just before the second climb of the day. Will we finally get a serious breakaway on the Côte de Valfin (5.6 kilometers at 4.3 percent)?
Nog 154 km – Louis Barré took two mountain points on top of the Col de la Croix de la Serra (12.2 kilometers at 4.1 percent). The other mountain point goes to Iván Romeo. In principle, they don’t need it anymore.
Nog 159 km – The peloton is over the top after the first climb of the twentieth stage. We get a reasonably long descent now, and the road is very slippery. Let’s hope everyone just stays on the bike.
Nog 162 km – Van Aert accelerates again, on a steeper stretch of the hill. The peloton has swallowed the three escapees again. The green jersey is riding 2 minutes behind here, Arnaud De Lie already has to concede 3 minutes and 40 seconds.
Nog 163 km – The weather conditions are really very bad. It is raining hard, and the roads are therefore very slippery. Let’s hope that goes well in the descent!
Nog 165 km – The two men from EF Education are Neilson Powless and Harry Sweeny. They are accompanied by Arkéa rider Raúl Garcia, who also just tried to ride to Asgreen.
Nog 165 km – Again a group with riders from EF Education creates a gap. Is Kasper Asgreen with them again?
Nog 166 km – It is raining hard on the Col de la Croix de la Serra (12.2 kilometers at 4.1 percent), this causes very slippery roads. So be careful!
Nog 168 km – The green jersey also has to let go of the peloton now. It seems that he cannot participate in the intermediate sprint.
Nog 167 km – Over and out for Kasper Asgreen! The Dane is caught by the peloton.
Nog 168 km – Meanwhile, something seems to be wrong with Arnaud De Lie. The Lotto rider is already 1 minute and 40 seconds behind the peloton.
Nog 168 km – Multiple accelerations again in the peloton. The gap between Asgreen and the large group is only 15 seconds.
The sportsmanship between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, prior to the start of the twentieth stage.
Nog 171 km – No, Van Aert and co. have been caught by the peloton again. The attack ends in beauty, Asgreen is still riding 30 seconds ahead of the peloton.
Nog 171 km – Alaphilippe, Van Aert, Foss and Démare are trying to ride to Asgreen together. The Danish leader has now started the first climb of the day: Col de la Croix de la Serra (12.2 kilometers at 4.1 percent).
Nog 173 km – Wout van Aert now with the acceleration, and a small group goes with him. Can they perhaps ride to the leading group?
Nog 177 km – No! Healy, Schmid, García Pierna and Abrahamsen do not manage to ride away from the peloton. Kasper Asgreen is still riding alone at the front. He has a lead of about 30 seconds on the peloton.
Nog 180 km – Among others, teammate Ben Healy is trying to strengthen Asgreen, as well as Mauro Schmid, Raúl García Pierna and Jonas Abrahamsen.
Nog 182 km – Kasper Asgreen has a gap with the rest of the peloton, but really still needs reinforcement if he wants to make something of this escape attempt.
Départ réel! We are off in France! A little later than planned, because Tim Merlier and Bert van Lerberghe still needed a new bike. Immediately several riders try to get away.
The intermediate sprint of today is after two climbs. Will Jonathan Milan still be in the front group then, or will he have to drop out before that?
Départ fictif! The riders have left for the neutralization. What kind of stage awaits us?