Tour de France stage 20 – Live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the penultimate stage of this year's Tour de France.

Today's stage kicks off in just over an hour, with Deceuninck-QuickStep's Tim Declercq the first man to start being last on GC.

His teammate, green jersey holder Mark Cavendish, is third man off at 13:08 local time. Former world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and ISN's Chris Froome are also among the first 10 starters today.

Check out the full list of start times for today's time trial here

It's a quite flat course today but with some rises and climbs, similar to the first TT of the race. The course isn't too technical either, though there are certainly some tricker sections. Check out the map below.

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Start times (CEST) for some the top time triallists left in the race today...

• Mikkel Bjerg – 13:45:30
• Stefan Bissegger – 13:54:30
• Brandon McNulty – 14:55:00
• Kasper Asgreen – 15:03:00
• Stefan Küng – 15:33:00
• Geraint Thomas – 15:57:00
• Richie Porte – 16:03:00
• Julian Alaphilippe – 16:23:00
• Wout Van Aert – 16:43:00
• Mattia Cattaneo – 16:57:00
• Rigoberto Uran – 17:01:00
• Alexey Lutsenko – 17:07:00
• Wilco Kelderman – 17:11:00
• Jonas Vingegaard – 17:17:00
• Tadej Pogacar – 17:19:00

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20 minutes to go to the start of today's stage.

Unfortunately there's little in terms of suspense at the top of the GC today, with Tadej Pogačar secure in overall victory at 5:45 ahead of second place.

There could be battles over minor placings, though, with fourth-placed Ben O'Connor and fifth-placed Wilco Kelderman separated by 32 seconds. 

Enric Mas, sixth, and Alexey Lutsenko, seventh, are 1:11 apart, while the eighth- and ninth-placed men Guillaume Martin and Pello Bilbao are 1:02 apart.

Toms Skujins' take on today...

Just a few minutes until Declercq heads off...

Declercq sets off, followed by Cees Bol and then Mark Cavendish.

There's great weather out on the course today. No clouds, rain or wind for the riders.

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Check out the story here

Seven men has passed through the first checkpoint at 7.5km into the 30.3km course.

Dries Devenyns (Deceuninck-QuickStep) is quickest so far at 9:22, 26 seconds up on Mads Pedersen.

Greipel sets off for what will be his final Tour de France time trial.

Declercq, Cavendish and Bol now past the second checkpoint 10.8km from the finish. The Manxman is quickest so far there.

10 minutes until Mikkel Bjerg sets off. He should be the quickest of the early runners.

Devenyns the quickest at both checkpoints so far. Bjerg is ready to go.

Declercq is the first man to finish. He sets a benchmark of 40:20 at an average of 45.8kph.

Cavendish finishes his ride with a time of 40:05 to go third.

Bjerg sets 9:16 to go fastest at the first checkpoint – six seconds up on Devenyns.

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Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) is out on course and he has edged out Bjerg by less than a second at the first checkpoint.

Tim Declercq was 21 minutes adrift at the bottom of the GC standings heading into today's stage, so he is set as the lanterne rouge if he finishes tomorrow's final stage.

Nobody within a minute of Devenyns at the finish yet.

Max Walscheid (Qhubeka Assos) is five seconds faster than Devenyns at the finish – 37:54.

Bjerg's 24:38 at the second checkpoint is 39 seconds up on Devenyns.

Bissegger quicker than Bjerg by 18 seconds at the second checkpoint.

The peloton are one day away from finishing the Tour de France and Lachlan Morton finished his Alt Tour during the week. 

Meanwhile, Jack Thompson's Amazing Race has also come to an end, with the ultra-cyclist having rode the entire Tour route in 11 days.

Read his story – including the final update – here

A 36:45 at the finish for Bjerg sees him going quickest so far by over a minute.

New Factor 'Hanzo' time trial bike ridden by Chris Froome at the Tour de France

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Bissegger is closing in on the finish.

He will take first easily...

36:37 for Bissegger and he's eight seconds quicker than Bjerg.

Michael Matthews, Rui Costa, Brandon McNulty, Kasper Asgreen and Michał Kwiatkowski are among the riders setting off in the next half hour.

Nobody really threatening the top of the timing sheets at the moment. Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) is third at the first check, five seconds down.

Bahrain's Fred Wright goese third-fastest at the finish with a timee of 37:49.

McNulty heads off in two minutes. Asgreen in 12 minutes.

Here's McNulty. We're almost at the halfway mark of riders setting off now.

Lotto Soudal's Philippe Gilbert says this will be his final Tour de France...

"We've had a major problem. Our team was entirely built around Caleb Ewan for the sprints and he had to abandon after the first sprint. All we could do after that was to take part in breakaways. Our young Australian Harry Sweeny managed to get a third place at the age of 22, well… he's 23 now.

"As a team, it's a meagre performance. Personally, I had abandoned the last four Tour de France I took part in, because of sickness or crashes, so I deeply wanted to finish this one. I've suffered a lot. I've raced anonymously. At any age, it means a lot to finish the Tour de France. I don't see myself coming back to this race as a rider so I'll be on the bike one last time in Paris tomorrow."

Arkea-Samsic's Connor Swift takes a nice eighth place at the finish with a time of 38:36. He's one of just three men from the team to make it to the finish of the Tour.

Cofidis' Anthony Perez goes fifth at the finish 1:20 down. He has had a good Tour, often getting in breaks and going on the attack.

Kasper Asgreen sets off.

Third place for McNulty at the first checkpoint. He's five seconds down on Bissegger and Bjerg there.

Armirail slots into third at the finish line. 1:02 down on Bissegger, though.

Asgreen is quickest at the first check. He sets a time of 9:10 there, six seconds up on Bissegger.

Tao Geoghegan Hart is off next.

Asgreen passes by his two-minute man Imanol Erviti. Meanwhile, McNulty is third at the second check, 32 seconds behind Bissegger.

Eight minutes until Stefan Küng sets off.

Asgreen at the second check after 20km of riding – 5 seconds up on Bissegger.

McNulty is 50 seconds down at the finish in third place. Nobody else is within a minute of Bissegger.

European champion Küng sets off now.

Nils Politt, Pierre Latour and Davide Formolo are among the next group of riders to set out.

Here comes Asgreen!

The Dane is easily quickest so far. 23 seconds off Bissegger's time at an average of 51kph.

We've had a group of fast men through the first check.

Asgreen is still quickest there are 9:10, followed by Magnus Cort a second slower. Dylan Van Baarle is another second back, while Omar Fraile is fourth at 9:15. Bissegger was at 9:16.

Küng is coming up to the first check.

Küng goes nine minutes flat at the first check. 10 seconds quicker than Asgreen!

Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte are starting their efforts either side of the hour.

Cort has faded to fourth at the second check while Fraile faded to 10th fastest. Van Baarle and Küng to pass through soon.

Van Baarle drops from fourth to fifth at the second check.

Küng almost misses out at the second check! He's gone from 10 seconds up to a quarter of a second up.

Thomas is off. Dan Martin, Porte and Fuglsang to follow.

Here's Küng out on course.

Magnus Cort goes fourth at the finish, 39 seconds down, as Porte sets off.

Fraile in seventh place, 1:26 down.

Van Baarle crosses the line at 59 seconds down in fifth place.

Geraint Thomas is 48 seconds down at the first checkpoint. He's not close to contention today, then. We wait to see how Porte is going.

Meanwhile Küng is not going to win today. He's outside of Asgreen's time in the last few hundred metres.

That's quite a few riders who have gone out fast and then faded as their ride has progressed. Hard to gauge any changes in wind out on course, but it's a possibility after Cort, Küng, Van Baarle, Fraile all lost time as they raced.

Porte is at 51 seconds at the first checkpoint. No win for Ineos today then.

Sepp Kuss sets off.

Buchmann, Mohorič, Alaphilippe and Quintana set to head off soon.

The current leader, Kasper Asgreen.

Nobody threatening at the top of the leaderboards out on course at the moment.

There's still a slew of contenders for the stage to come. Julian Alaphilippe is the only man who could really threaten the top of the standings set to head off anytime soon though. He'll start in two minutes.

• Alaphilippe – 16:23
• Van Aert – 16:43
• Cattaneo – 16:57
• Urán – 17:01
• Lutsenko – 17:07
• Kelderman – 17:11
• Vingegaard – 17:17
• Pogačar – 17:19

Alaphilippe rolls down the ramp to start his ride.

Kuss with a decent ride to the first checkpoint. He's 39 seconds down.

Geraint Thomas nearly two minutes down at the second check.

Double stage winner Mohoric is 1:12 down at the checkpoint. He might be struggling to breathe after zipping his lips at the finish yesterday.

Alaphilippe is 22 seconds down at the first checkpoint, equal with Devenyns. He won't be in contention today, then.

10 minutes until Van Aert starts.

Mollema, Van Aert, Teuns, Poels among the next batch of riders to set off.

Richie Porte crosses the line almost three minutes down. Thomas was at just over three minutes.

Van Aert sets off.

Alaphilippe is approaching the second checkpoint with a mass of crowds cheering his name and crowding the road.

He's in 13th place there, 55 seconds down.

Mollema 33 seconds down at the first check. Poels sets off.

Van Aert is approaching the first check. Nine minutes to beat.

The Belgian TT champion is quickest at the checkpoint by three seconds. 8:57 for him.

Richie Porte rides past the vineyards earlier on.

Stefan Küng speaks after his ride...

"I'm very disappointed. I absolutely wanted to win today as I felt very good in the past few days. I was very motivated, maybe a bit too much. I started too strongly and I paid for my efforts. I'm a specialist. I know what I have to do but this is the Tour. I've thought I'd smash everyone but once you're in the red, you don't recover anymore. I've suffered twice as much as in Laval. It's my mistake.

"There'll be other chances. People say success comes after failure, so the next ITT might the right one for me. It'll be the Olympic Games. My shape is good. I had good legs today and I have the impression that I've recovered well during the Tour

Cattaneo is off next. Gaudu, Urán, Bilbao then as we head into the GC top 10.

Pogačar will set off in 22 minutes.

Gaudu starts off with a smile as the crowds cheer him on.

Alaphilippe passes Mohorič on the way to the line. He finishes outside the top 10 at 1:44 down in 13th place.

Bilbao is off and he'll be followed by Guillaume Martin, Lutsenko, Mas, Kelderman at two-minute intervals.

Van Aert a few minutes away from the second check. He'll be the next man to break into the top 10 after a long period of nobody managing to make it.

Van Aert crosses the second check 24 seconds quicker than Küng. Easily the fastest man so far.

Cattaneo third at the first checkpoint, 13 seconds down.

Lutsenko and Mas have started their efforts.

Kelderman, O'Connor, Carapaz, Vingegaard and Pogačar remain.

7km to go for Van Aert.

Urán 49 seconds down at the first check. Not good.

O'Connor is off and now it's just the top three to go.

Kelderman needs to make 33 seconds on O'Connor to snatch fourth place. It's the closest battle of the top 10.

Vingegaard sets off.

Can he make up the 11.3 seconds per kilometre he needs to win the Tour de France??? No.

Van Aert into the final kilometre and he'll take top spot.

Easy first place for the Belgian. He's the first man under 36 minutes with a time of 35:53. 21 seconds faster than Asgreen.

Meanwhile, Pogačar sets off.

B&B Hotels p/b KTM man Franck Bonnamour has won the supercombativity award of this year's Tour de France. Well deserved after a lot of time in the break and on the attack.

Kelderman 40 seconds down at the first checkpoint.

Guillaume Martin 14 seconds behind Bilbao at the first check. The Spaniard needs 1:02 to move up to eighth.

O'Connor 35 seconds down at the first check. He's actually gaining on Kelderman.

And Lutsenko is 18 seconds up on Mas in the fight for sixth. He needs 1:12 to move up though.

Carapaz 29 seconds down at the first checkpoint.

Vingegaard 12 seconds down at the checkpoint. He was never in any danger of losing second place.

Pogačar approaching the first checkpoint.

Pogačar is down on Van Aert. He's slower than Vingegaard, even. 17 seconds down at the checkpoint.

Pello Bilbao having radio trouble as it looks to be hanging off his jersey. He's 2:10 down at the second checkpoint.

Martin only 29 seconds behind him there. The Frenchman's eighth place looks secure.

Lutsenko 1:23 down there, and Mas passes through at 1:50. The Spaniard's sixth place looks secure.

Cattaneo finishes his effort in fifth place at 49 seconds. Another good ride from the Italian.

Kelderman, O'Connor, Carapaz, Vingegaard and Pogačar still to come through the second checkpoint.

Vingegaard is currently making around 40 seconds on Carapaz. No drama.

Kelderman 1:43 down at the second check. O'Connor passes through at 1:44 down. The Australian looks secure in fourth.

Carapaz with a good ride to takee 18th place at the second check. 1:24 down for him but he won't be moving up on the podium.

Vingegaard 21 seconds down at the second check. If Pogačar hasn't sped up then Van Aert has the win in the bag today.

Pogačar 38 seconds down at the second check and taking no risks. The race is in the bag.

Bilbao 3:13 down at the finish. Martin is 3:44 down and keeps eighth overall quite easily.

Lutsenko 1:58 down at the finish. Mas finishes 2:29 down and saves his sixth place.

Kelderman vs O'Connor the next battle to be decided.

Kelderman comes to the line and he's 2:20 down in 23rd place.

O'Connor next to finish and he secures his fourth place overall after finishing 2:41 down. A great Tour for him and his AG2R team.

Carapaz 2:09 down to secure third place.

Vingegaard not far behind.

Vingegaard 32 seconds down in third place. He's second overall.

Just Pogačar to go now.

A thrilling day of racing is almost over...

Here's today's stage winner Wout van Aert.

Pogačar comes in 57 seconds down in eighth place. Another Tour win in the bag for him.

Here's what Van Aert had to say after his win...

"The winning the Tour de France time trial has been one of my biggest objectives in my career. I was really focussed on this day in the last couple of days and I'm so happy i could finish it off.

"Compared to the first TT it was more rolling and faster. With my weight it was more in my advantage than the first one, which was punchier. I think it was a perfect day.

"It was definitely the hot seat in the first couple of minutes because I was completely overheated after the effort. Afterwards it was always stressful, but I guess I had a nice margin on the specialists and when I saw the intermediates of the GC guys my hopes were raising.

"It's been a really hard Tour de France for our team, but we always fought through and in the end, we have three stage wins and Jonas in second in GC which is an amazing result with only four guys left. I'm really proud of how we fought."

Five hours of racing and literally nothing has changed – apart from Jumbo-Visma taking another stage win, of course.

Bauke Mollema overtaking Sergio Henao for 20th overall was the only GC change in the top 20.

A fitting stage after the past two weeks of racing.

The biggest gaps since Nibali in 2014...

Pogačar's win by 5:20 is the biggest since the Italian's win by 7:37 ahead of Jean-Christophe Peraud seven years ago, while the gap back to tenth is also the biggest since then.

Check out our report for stage 20 here

Van Aert celebrates his stage win on the podium.

Yellow jersey winner Tadej Pogačar celebrates as he crosses the line today.

Here's what he had to say after the stage...

"I am super happy it is finished. Actually, it was a very fast ITT. There was so much support over the course. I was enjoying every kilometre, even if it was very hot and I was suffering a bit. I was going a flat-out, but it was different to the first ITT, on which there was more adrenaline, but I was well prepared anyway and it still was a super performance.

"I can’t compare both Tour de France GC victories. I can’t say which one is more beautiful. Last year everything was decided on the last ITT and the emotions were by far stronger. This time, I took the yellow jersey quite earlier. It has been totally different.

"Today I saw Allan [Peiper] for the first time since January. I was super happy to see him. It was already a lot of emotions before the start. It has been great to ride the ITT with his support, and the support of the team, my family, my friends… I will think about what this means in the future. For the moment, I am just very happy."

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That's all for us today on this penultimate stage of the Tour de France. There'll be plenty more news and reaction to come through the evening, though, so keep watching out for that.

Back tomorrow for more live coverage of the final stage to Paris.