Tour de France: Richard Carapaz wins breakaway epic on brutal stage 20 to Alpe d'Huez after late disaster by Sepp Kuss

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) won a drama-filled final mountain stage 20 of this year's Tour de France, beating Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) to the top of Alpe d'Huez after the US rider crashed twice in the final 10km.

The pair had been part of a 14-rider breakaway that went away on the first of four massive climbs that lined the 170km route on the penultimate stage, and after attacking each other up the Col du Galibier and Col de Sarenne, emerged as the strongest climbers in the move alongside Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

Kuss made what could have been the winning move with 17.4km to go, dropping his two companions but only by around 20 seconds. As Hindley cracked, Carapaz never gave up the fight, and as they made it back into the Alpe d'Huez town, Kuss came down twice, first in a tunnel and then almost over the side of a descent, thankfully saved by a concrete barrier and well-placed safety net.

Carapaz flew past him and extended his lead out to 31 seconds from Kuss by the time he reached the line to take the biggest stage win of his career, and in the polka-dot jersey he confirmed would be his by cresting the Col du Galibier in first.

Kuss' woes were compounded as he was overtaken by Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in the final 500 metres, who took second on the final stage 26 seconds behind Carapaz, banging his bars in frustration having missed out on the stage win.

In fourth was race leader Tadej Pogačar, who all but confirmed his fifth overall victory at the Tour de France with a day of working as a domestique for UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Isaac del Toro.

With the yellow jersey working for him, Del Toro secured the final spot on the GC podium behind his leader and Evenepoel, dropping Paul Seixas on the Col de Sarenne after he and his Decathlon CMA CGM teammates tried and failed to put the Mexican into difficulty. The 19-year-old's efforts still meant he would finish the race in fourth overall, a remarkable feat as the youngest debutant for 89 years at the Tour, confirming his potential to become an overall winner in the future.

Despite Evenepoel attacking the UAE duo in search of the stage win, with a minute still to make up on Carapaz in the lead, Pogačar opted against trying to go with him, instead helping the struggling Del Toro – even with third and the white jersey secured – and the pair were able to celebrate together over the line.

"I did my best today to help Isaac. Massive respect for what all the guys have been doing for the last three weeks. I can say I finally experienced it myself, and now I even more – I already appreciated the work of the teammates before, but now it's like another level, and I must say thank you to every single one of them for working so hard for these last three weeks," said Pogačar with his record-equalling fifth yellow jersey in the bag.

"It was goosebumps," he added, describing the moment when he and Del Toro celebrated arm in arm. "If I wouldn't shave my arms, you would see the hair up, but it was fantastic and one for the memories."

With first and third on GC wrapped up and the white jersey, it's obvious to see Del Toro as the heir apparent at UAE Team Emirates-XRG, but Pogačar isn't wanting to put too much pressure on his comrade for the moment.

"I definitely will not be doing this for for too much long time, I think, and Isaac showed great potential, but we don't put any pressure yet on Isaac," he said.

"I think he's still young. He's a quick learner. He's super smart, big talent, big engine. So yeah, let's see where the road takes us. But I'm happy to be with him in the team, and that we can ride like this together for now."

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