Pogacar Set to Tie Record With Fifth Tour de France Title After Brutal Alps Stage

Tadej Pogacar is one stage away from tying cycling's most exclusive record. The 27-year-old Slovenian, riding for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, leads the Tour de France by 6 minutes 26 seconds over Belgium's Remco Evenepoel heading into Sunday's final stage into Paris, according to the BBC. Barring a crash, Pogacar will become just the fifth rider in Tour history to win five overall titles, joining Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

The final stage is traditionally ceremonial, with the yellow jersey holder's lead treated as untouchable by the rest of the peloton. Pogacar's grip on the title is considered all but certain.

Stage 20 turns into chaos on Alpe d'Huez

Saturday's stage 20, the race's brutal 'queen stage,' covered 170.9km with 5,450 meters of climbing across three hors category ascents, finishing atop Alpe d'Huez for the second time in two days, according to the BBC. Ecuador's Richard Carapaz took the stage win, with Evenepoel finishing second, 26 seconds back, after a late charge.

The stage's most dramatic moment belonged to American rider Sepp Kuss of Visma-Lease a Bike. Kuss, the 2023 Vuelta a Espana champion, attacked alone from a large breakaway group with roughly 25km remaining and looked to be riding toward a stage win. He crashed twice in the closing kilometers, at one point coming close to going over a cliff edge, according to the BBC. Kuss did not win the stage.

Pogacar plays support role for young teammate

Pogacar finished stage 20 in fourth place, but his day was defined by helping 22-year-old Mexican teammate Isaac del Toro provisionally lock up third place overall and the white jersey for best young rider. The two crossed the finish line together, arms around each other's shoulders, after Pogacar paced a struggling Del Toro up the final climb.

"I did my best to help Isaac," Pogacar said afterward, according to the BBC. "Massive respect for what all the guys have been doing in the past three weeks. I finally experienced [being a domestique] myself and I already before appreciate [the] work of team-mates, but now it's like another level. It was goosebumps [as we crossed the line together]. [It] was fantastic and one for the memories."

Asked about his future, Pogacar said he does not expect to keep racing indefinitely at this level. "I definitely will not be doing this for too much [of a] long time, I think," he said. "Isaac showed great potential, but we don't put any pressure yet on Isaac."

Wildfires force a shortened, altered final stage

Race organizer ASO announced during stage 20 that Sunday's finale into Paris will be cut from 133km to 89km, according to the BBC. The change comes after emergency services were redirected to fight wildfires in southwest France, pulling resources away from the race route.

The final stage has historically ended with a bunch sprint on the Champs-Élysées cobbles, a finish tailored to pure sprinters. This year's route adds a climb through Montmartre, which could give riders with more sustained power a shot at stealing a breakaway win instead of leaving it to the sprint specialists.

What's left to decide

Pogacar's overall win looks locked in. What remains open is the stage win in Paris itself, now shorter and reshaped by the Montmartre climb, and whether Kuss's American team, Visma-Lease a Bike, can salvage a stage victory somewhere in the race's closing days after his stage 20 crashes. Del Toro's grip on third place and the white jersey is provisional pending Sunday's result, per the BBC, though the ceremonial nature of the final stage makes a shakeup unlikely.

The wildfires that forced ASO to cut nearly a third of Sunday's planned distance remain active in southwest France as of this weekend. No source cited here details total acreage burned or containment status, and that remains a separate, unresolved story outside the race itself.