Tour de France: Dumoulin wins stage 20 time trial as Thomas cements overall victory

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Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) won the penultimate stage of the Tour de France, a 31km time trial in the French Basque Country. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) sealed his overall victory ahead of the final stage into Paris - Sky's sixth victory in eight Tours. Thomas was third on the day at 14 seconds down while teammate Chris Froome took second place just a second behind the Dumoulin.

At the beginning of the day, the race lead was more or less already decided, with Thomas enjoying a 2:05 advantage over second-placed Dumoulin. The fight for the podium was of more interest, however, as Dumoulin, Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Froome were covered by just 32 seconds.

Thomas got off to a blazing start as teammate Michał Kwiatkowski waited in the hotseat. The Welshman was 13 seconds up on Froome at the second checkpoint before easing up on the run to the line. Froome had set the fastest time at the finish, overhauling Roglič for the final podium spot, while Dumoulin rode a great final section of the stage to overhaul a 13-second gap to beat Froome by just one second and claim stage victory.

"Oh, that's crazy," Dumoulin said after the finish, shortly after learning the result. "I didn't know anything about split times. I still thought Froome was one second ahead of me when I crossed the line. Everybody said I was second by one second. That's crazy - wow.

"It's an amazing day. This morning we found out that we lost my skinsuit. So Etxeondo, our clothing sponsor from the Spanish Basque Country made a new one, and I'm wearing it this morning and I'm forever thankful otherwise I would not be finishing in this beautiful world championships jersey.

"I had such a hard time yesterday," he added, referring to his comments about Roglič's attack. "And all the frustration came out a little bit after the finish. But today I cannot believe it. It's amazing - one second."

As expected, Thomas rides to Paris tomorrow safe in yellow, while Dumoulin and Froome complete the podium. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step Floors) and Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale) will take the green, polka dot and white jerseys, respectively. Movistar are the team competition winners, and Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) wins the combativity prize.

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How it happened

The penultimate stage of the Tour de France was the race's only individual time trial, a tough 31km route in the French Basque Country. Running from Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle to Espelette - home of the eponymous pepper - the stage would provide a testing challenge to round off the race.

Standing out on the profile was the sharp 900-metre, 10.2 per cent climb of the Col de Pinodieta, which comes just 3km from the finish. But aside from that, the profile was somewhat deceiving, with the reality meaning steeper hills, tricky descents, and rolling roads where the profile looks flat. With climbing from the start, it would quickly become clear if a rider was on a good day or not.

The time trial would be the final chance for Dumoulin, Roglič and Froome to sort out the remaining podium places behind race winner-elect Thomas. Further down the rankings other, more minor GC places would be decided.

As the first riders set off, the rain was falling, meaning it would be a big ask for any of the early leavers to set a winning time on the day. Lawson Craddock (Education First-Drapac), who fractured his shoulder blade on stage 1, was the first to finish, setting a time of 47:30 and punching the air as he crossed the line.

Amund Jansen (Team Sunweb) was the early leader in the clubhouse, setting a time of 44:55 that would soon be beaten by a single second by Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates). Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe), who won the final time trial last year, was the next to top the timesheets at 44:26.

Seconds later came Mitchelton-Scott's Michael Hepburn, who shattered the Pole's time with a run of 42:15. His time looked like it would be among the top efforts of the day, but for the rapidly drying roads.

Such was the strength of Hepburn's ride though, that he held onto the top spot for two hours, as the likes of Jonathan Castroviejo (Team Sky) and Stefan Küng (BMC) failed to beat him. That Movistar's Marc Soler was the first to do so, albeit by a solitary second, only highlighted the nature of the course - not one for the powerhouse rouleurs.

Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) would later put 31 seconds into the Spaniard, before Kwiatkowski's 41:42 time saw him take the hotseat.

With nobody else coming close to the Pole, all that remained was for the top men on GC to get going. Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) was a major threat, setting off 11th from last, but the main course were the top four riders - Chris Froome (Team Sky), Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo), Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and race leader Geraint Thomas (Team Sky).

Jungels and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) both beat Kwiatkowski's top time at the second checkpoint 22km into the stage, with the Russian going fastest. Both though, would ultimately fall a handful of seconds short of taking top spot.

Meanwhile, among the big four Thomas started fast putting time into Dumoulin. And as Froome powered between legions of Ikurriña-waving Basque fans, television graphics showed him overhauling Roglič for third overall.

The Slovenian rode through the 22km checkpoint 49 seconds down on Froome, his podium hopes vanishing. Thomas led, 13 seconds ahead of Froome, 15 ahead of Dumoulin.

At the finish, Froome smashed Kwiatkowski's time by 52 seconds. Roglič came in next, losing 1:14 and third place to the four-time champion. World TT champion Dumoulin edged inside Froome's time by just over a second - a surprising result given he was down at every checkpoint. Thomas cruised in 13 seconds down, his yellow jersey already safe.

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