Froome set to win 2016 Tour de France ahead of procession to Paris

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Ion Izagirre (Movistar) won the final mountain stage of the 2016 Tour de France, attacking on the descent of the Col de Joux Plane to take the biggest win of his career. He outdistanced Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) after the trio had formed as a group just before the summit of the climb.

Chris Froome and his Team Sky teammates, haunted by his crash the previous stage, took the descent more carefully and crossed the line over four minutes later. Froome is just one processional stage from Paris away from winning his third Tour de France title.

Froome will ride into Paris with a 4:05 lead over second place Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in third at 4:21.

Despite the heavy rain and the four categorised climbs before the wet descent into Morzine the race leader was put under little pressure with his team once again shepherding him towards safety. The day was dominated by riders further down the classification trying to move up with Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff) starting the day in 12th overall and successfully infiltrating the day's early break that contained over 30 riders and his teammate Peter Sagan.

The day's break decided the points of each of the four climbs with Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) particularly aggressive.

Behind the break Astana set the pace in a bid to set up Fabio Aru for one final assault with the final climb of the Joux Plane acting as the final battleground for this year's Tour. As the race hit the final climb, the break splintered with Pantano and Julian Alaphilippe riding clear of what was left of Kreuziger's group.

Nibali, who had been in the move, counter attacked and caught the pair before the summit but Izagirre paced himself perfectly on the climb and caught the tiring Astana rider and Pantano just before the summit. The Movistar man attacked just as the summit proper started and he wasn't seen again.

Back in the GC group, Astana's best laid plans fell apart on the Joux Plane with Aru an early casualty as the pace increased by the top ten contenders, who looked for any weaknesses they could exploit. Team Sky, as they have done for most of this year's race, kept the situation in check. Only Bauke Mollema - briefly – and Joaquim Rodriguez - more successfully – were able to break free as Bardet, Quintana sat in and protected their positions. Adam Yates and Richie Porte – who had ambitions for challenging for the podium – were unable to attack and on the wet descent into Morzine, Geraint Thomas controlled Froome’s rivals.

Dan Martin fired off a late attack in order to try and stop Rodriguez from moving above him in GC but it was too late, with the Spaniard climbing to seventh in what will be his final Tour.

Froome's lead lost a few seconds as Bardet and Quintana stuck to Martin's acceleration but the race now heads to Paris with Froome set to be crowned the 2016 winner.

Tour de France stage 20 highlights video

How it unfolded

As soon as the flag dropped riders started jumping from the field with a group of 37 riders going clear. By the first climb of the day, the Col des Aravis, only 20km into the stage, Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) had attacked from the group. He took the points and continued on his own with the Sky-controlled peloton roughly two minutes down.

On the next climb, the Col de la Colombiere, De Gendt, Sergio Henao (Sky), Ion Izagirre and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Peter Sagan and Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff), Ben Gastauer, Cyril Gautier and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Wilco Kelderman and George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), Frank Schleck and Jasper Stuyven (Trek), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling), Pierre Rolland, Tom-Jelte Slagter and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Patrick Konrad (Bora), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal), Sylvain Chavanel and Fabrice Jeandesbosz (Direct Energie), Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Chris Juul-Jensen and Michael Matthews (Orica-BikeExchange) formed as one major group, with Warren Barguil (Giant Alpecin) eventually making contact after a long chase.

Sagan turns mountain domestique

De Gendt once again took maximum points at the top of the Colombiere with the peloton at 4:44. The large lead group splintered on the descent, with Sagan leading the first group of eight riders - Kreuziger, Izagirre, Nibali, Rui Costa, Pantano, Alaphilippe, and Gougeard. The gap of five and a half minutes put Kreuziger on the virtual podium and eventually sparked life from AG2R and Astana, who took over the pace-setting from Team Sky.

Col de la Ramaz was looming, and Astana had moved into the lead, chasing at the front of the peloton, and steadily bringing the gap down from six minutes.

World champion Sagan put in huge efforts to lead his group and help his teammate, Kreuziger, before eventually sitting up with 62km to go.

Much further back, Bauke Mollema dropped out of the peloton, although he eventually caught up again.

De Gendt took off near the top of the Ramaz, once again taking the maximum points. He continued on the wet descent but was soon caught and then passed by Pantano, with Alaphillipe moving up to join the Colombian. The duo built up a lead of over a minute as they approached the final climb, after the cooperation in the Kreuziger group had been as patchy as the weather.

Battle up the Col de Joux Plane

With just one climb remaining, the Col de Joux Plane, the duo of Pantano and Alaphilippe took a 5:30 lead over the peloton with them as they started to climb.

Astana had led the peloton much of the day, even chasing their own man Nibali. But it all came to naught as Fabio Aru struggled in the rain at the very back of the field, falling back despite his teammates' help.

Nibali was perhaps aware of this, and with 18km to go he jumped from the chase group. Mollema also took heart and jumped from the peloton, looking to make up some of the time he lost on Friday, but was unable to establish a lead and faded badly.

Alaphillipe and Pantano battled with one another, jumping and trying to get away. Nibali was within sight of the two, but the constant attacks hurt his efforts.

Yet with 15.5km to go he caught them and soon pulled away.

Izagirre moved up from the chasers and caught Pantano and Alaphilippe, and the young French rider started to lose ground. The new duo caught the tiring Nibali close to the summit, with Pantano the first to cross the line. At this point the group around Froome was only three minutes back.

It was not a mountaintop finish, as a descent followed. The road was newly re-paved, and water-covered from the constant rain. Izagirre proved to have the best nerves, flying bravely down. Pantano had one heart-stopping moment as his bike slid but he was able to control it at the last minute.

Izagirre continued on his own to the end, claiming the first Spanish victory in this year's Tour.

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