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Cycling Weekly
Cycling Weekly
Sport
Stephen Shrubsall

Tour de France live: stage 20 – Thibaut Pinot attacks on the Petite Ballon

getty

Hi and welcome to today's live coverage of the 2023 Tour de France. Stage 20 sees the peloton head into the Vosges and Haut-Rhin mountains where the final act in a fascinating GC play will unfold

Barring crashes or a farcical jour sans, Jonas Vingegaard will ride the mountainous 133km from Belfort to Le Markstein Fellering to secure overall victory at this year's Tour. Over seven minutes down, it's likely that Tadej Pogacar and his UAE team will concentrate their efforts on a stage win.

A stage win will be on the minds of many today – particularly Thibaut Pinot racing in his home departement in his last ever Tour. Bonne chance, Thibaut! 

1km left of the depart reel then the penultimate stage of this fascinating Tour officially begins...

Victor Campenaerts is straight off the front from kilometre zero and joined by Lotto-Dstny team-mate Jasper De Buyst. They already have 26 seconds on the peloton. 

120km to go: Campenaerts, riding solo now, still has 36 seconds on the peloton as the Tour starts to ascend the Ballon d'Alsace

115k to go:  King of the mountain points are being played out on the first climb of the day with current leader Giulio Ciccone sitting in the wheels at the front of the peloton while Matteo Trentin pulls the pack back and past Victor Campenarts

110km to go: Mads Pedersen doing a massive turn to pace Ciccone (and the rest of the peloton) to crest of the Ballon d'Alsace 

108km to go: And he's done it... Ciccone sprints to spoils on the first climb of the day, albeit with very little competition

105km to go: Julian Alaphilippe leading a strung-out peloton down the subsequent descent. It's a technical one!

96km to go: Ineos Grenadiers' GC man Carlos Rodriguez has taken what looks to be quite a tumble on the descent. 

95km to go: Rodriguez has blood streaming from a cut above his eye and is missing skin on his left arm and leg; not the ending to Tour that he or indeed Ineos Grenadiers wanted

91km to go: Meanwhile a large-ish group including Jonas Vingegaard and Tom Pidcock have slipped away during the melee. They currently have 15 seconds on the main bunch

85km to go: Vingegaard has dropped back to the peloton, his presence obviously thought incongruous in the break! 

83km to go: Mads Pederson has gone full cyborg – pulling the break (and Ciccone) over 30 seconds away from the peloton

80km to go: Bora-Hansgrohe pulling the peloton as the Tour embarks the category-two Col de la Croix de Moinats

78km go: Tom Pidcock looking strong in the leaders' group. Could he be saving his best for last?

76km to go:  Ciccone takes maximum points on the seconds climb of the day

71km to go: bloodied and battered but Rodriguez has been given the go ahead to defend his fourth position on GC

(Image credit: Getty)

70km to go:  Another category-two climb starts (Col de Grosse Pierre), again with Ciccone at the head of affairs

68km to go: Ciccone crests the summit first and edges ever closer to securing the top spot of the KOM competition. He could potentially wrap it up on the next categorised climb

65km to go:  France dares to dream! Thibaut Pinot has made it into the front group. 

(Image credit: Getty)

60km to go: the break are keeping the peloton (currently being driven forward by UAE) at just over a minute in arrears. 

57km to go: The minute gap between break and peloton remains as the category-three Col de la Schlucht begins. Ciccone could well conclude his KOM mission at the summit

51km to go: Giulio Ciccone wins this year's king of the mountains competition  – punching the air with jubilation as he crests the Col de la Schlucht first and becomes the first Italian to win the polka dots since Claudio Chiappucci in 1992

This year's king of the mountains

(Image credit: Getty)

36km to go: currently in the midst of descent towards the base of the Petit Ballon, a category-one climb that averages 8.1% gradient over 9.3km. The break have drawn out the gap to 1-19

34km to go: Tour heading into the town of Munster, home of the smelliest cheese on planet Earth

34km to go: And the Petite Ballon begins...

33km to go:  Thibaut Pinot lighting up the slopes of the Petite Ballon, lining out the breakaway as he goes. 

31km to go: UAE driving full gas at the front of the peloton bring the gap down to under a minute. The news of this, however, inspires a reaction from Thibaut Pinot and he picks up the pace again, attacking off the front of the break 

27km to go: Thibaut Pinot opens a prominent gap on the Petite Ballon, 21 seconds back to the break, 1.20 back to the peloton. The crowds are stadium-esque!

24km to go: Pinot crests the Petite Ballon with a 30-second gap over Pidcock and Warren Barguil and 1.20 over the peloton

21km to go:  David Gaudo hits the deck hard on a tight hairpin but he's back on his bike

15km to go: the Frenchman begins the Col du Platzerwasel with 15 seconds on the remnants of the break and just 46 seconds on the peloton. Allez, Thibaut! 

12km to go: Tadej Pogacar attacks out of the front of the peloton, and, with Vingegaard and Gall, immediately closes the gap on Pinot, Pidcock and Barguil. 

11km to go: Pinot, Pidcock and Barguil dropped as Pog and Vingegaard turn up the heat. Pogacar looking good for the stage win. 

10km to go: The Yates brothers leaving everything on this final mountain of the Tour

7km to go: the leading three continue to wend the way towards the summit with the Yates brothers in hot pursuit

3km to go: The Yates brothers bridge up to the leading three, teeing up a tight finish 

Pogacar takes his second stage win of this year's Tour - redemption has been sought and found in the Haut-Rhin mountains

That's all for today, hope you enjoyed that as much as us!

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