As it happened: Pinot attacks, Pogacar wins stage 20 and Vingegaard secures overall Tour de France victory

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At the start in Belfort, the riders are signing on and preparing for the final mountain stage.

It is short at 133.5km but it will be intense. 

Thibaut Pinot gets a special cheer on the sign-on podium. This is his last Tour de France mountain stage of his career, with the start just 30km from his home and thousands of his fans waiting for him on the Petit Ballon climb. 

"There’s lots emotions... It’s a special day for me,” Pinot said on stage. 

I hope everything goes well. My choice to retire is made and that’s why I’ll give it my all today.”  

Barry Ryan has followed Pinot's career closely in the last 12 years and wrote this special feature. It's a great way to understand Pinot and what this stage means to him and the sport. 

‘I think I've come full circle’ – Thibaut Pinot takes Tour de France bow on home roads

Allez Tibo! 

Ineos  are next to sign on. Today they will look to help Carlos Rodriguez climb to third place on the final GC podium. The  young Spaniard is 1:16 down on Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates). 

UAE sign on. How will Tadej Pogacar perform in the mountains today after suffering in the Alps. He could try to win the stage or could crack again.

We'll find out very soon. 

Lidl-Trek sign on, with Giulio Ciccone in the polka-dot jersey.

They will ride to defend the jersey but faces several major rivals. 

This is how close the KOM competition is. 

As we countdown to the start Jumbo-Visma and race leader Jonas Vingegaard sign on. 

Vingegaard leads Pogacar by 7:35 and so today will surely be about control and staying safe so they can ride into Paris to celebrate a second Tour victory. 

However if the race explodes, watch for the Dane to try to win in yellow. 

Vingegaard is preparing for an explosive last stand in this year’s Tour de France as climbers in the peloton prepare to go all-in on the penultimate stage in the Vosges. 

The defending champion’s team have compared Saturday’s stage - that features no less than six categorised climbs - to last year’s run to Hautacam, which Vingegaard won ahead of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). 

Jumbo-Visma sports director Merijn Zeeman said there’s still much to play for. 

“It’s a very hard stage,” Zeeman said. “It’s the third week, everyone is tired but there are still lots of things to fight for: mountain jersey, stage win, all the different places in the GC starting from the 10th place to the podium. 

“We will follow our plan and we will race like we always do but cycling is with 22 teams, and I think you will see a lot of different things tomorrow with a lot of different interests. It will be left out all on the road, and everyone will go full gas.” 

Click below to read Sophie Smith's special preview. 

‘Really explosive’ - Vingegaard ready to defend yellow in Tour de France mountain finale

We're five minutes from the stage start.

The  jersey wearers on the front of the start grid, we're ready to start the stage. 

1 minute to go!

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1... C'est Parti!

The riders have left the start area and now face neutralised sector of  6.6km before the 133.5km stage starts.

We expect attacks from the very start. 

Le Markstein is a stage finish for the first time at the Tour. 

Last year Le Markstein was the finish of stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift: Annemiek van Vleuten won after going solo for nearly 70 kilometres and won the yellow jersey.

All the expected attackers are at the front of the peloton.

There are signs of cross winds in the early kilometres, adding an extra twist to the racing.

The roads are flat and  then the Ballon d'Alsace begins. It is 11.5 km long at 5.3%. 

Allez! They're off! 

Christian Prudhomme has waved his flag ands the first attacks are launched.

Yet again Victor Campenaerts  is the first to surge away. 

He ias joined by a Lotto teammate and a Movistar teammate.

Other riders are on the move, trying to cross to the attack. 

125km to go

The peloton has eased slightly and so the gap is rising.

Lidl-Trek are controlling the attack to protect Ciccone's KOM lead.

Jasper De Buyst is away with Campenaerts but the other teams seem confident they can be caught on the Ballon d'Alsace climb.

What should we expected today Jai? 

Hindley was more open about his plan of attack when speaking to Cyclingnews.  

The injured Australian slowly dropped from third to seventh overall after a high-speed crash on stage 14, but showed signs of improvement on the Col de la Loze and is up for the contest. 

“Regardless of how I’m feeling, I think all-in. It’s only 130 kilometres and, what have I go to lose? But I think everyone will be like that,” he said. 

There are big gaps in the GC top 10 , but still room to move. The contest for the polka-dot jersey is also tight, with Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) holding a slender six-point advantage on Felix Gall, the motivated AG2R Citroën rider who celebrated a stage win in Courchevel earlier this week. 

“After the queen stage, after the victory, of course, I mean, everyone is tired now, we’re in the third week, but it cost a lot of energy,” Gall said. “I am just looking forward to when it’s over.” 

120km to go

Jasper De Buyst and Victor Campenaerts are pushing on as the climb starts.

The counter-attacks will surely come soon, with the KOM points at the summit of the Ballon d'Alsace, the first battle of the day.

The climbs kicks in and AG2R attacks but Ciccone marks him.  

Jasper De Buyst is swept-up as the climbers surge but Victor Campenaerts is still racing out front.  

Interestingly, the GC teams are trying to control the racing to play their cards later.

Lidl-Trek are trying to stop the attacks to keep the peloton together for Ciccone. 

115km to go

Trentin is going deep to close down Campenaerts.

What is UAE's game plan? What happens now?

The speed is high and so some sprinters have already been dropped. 

Matthias Skelmose is playing a key role for Ciccone. He's leading him in a small attack, with 3km to the summit. 

Ineos have made a tactical call to follow UAE, because they want to win the stage. 

Mads Pedersen is also working for Ciccone but Vingegaard is close to the front now. 

1km to the summit and the hectic sprint for the KO points.

Lidl wind it up for Cicco!

Ciccone is first to the top. 

He kicked with 150m to go and took the five points. 

Skelmose tactically finished second to score 3 points, while Pedersen also rode hard to finish third and score 2 points. 

That all helped Ciccone extend his lead in the KOM competition. He has 93 points now, with Gall on 82 points.

Now the riders dive down the stunning and testing descent from the Ballon d'Alsace.

This is how Lild-Trek bossed the KOM sprint. 

Crash! Two riders goes down on the descent.

Carlos Rodriguez is one of them! 

The crash came after Alaphilippe pushed the pace.

Rodriguez is up and chasing.

There are several splits in the peloton.

Rodriguez has cut his eye and perhaps hit his head.  He also has cuts and road rash on his right arm and leg. 

He is chasing with a teammate.  

Ineos are calling all the team back to help Rodriguez.

Sadly Rodriguez is 1:30 down on the attackers.

A replay shows that something went into the road, Rodriguez avoided it buthen lost his front wheel and banged his face on the road. 

Sepp Kuss also crashed and is being treated by a race doctor for cuts on his right elbow.

There are 16 riders in the attack, including race leader Jonas Vingegaard.

Rodriguez is tucked in behind  an Ineos team car as he chases back to the peloton.

He has cuts to his chin, nose and eye. 

Sepp Kuss also has an facial injury, to his left eye area. 

With Vingegaard in the attack, UAE are chasing to defend their chances of winning the stage. 

90km to go

The presence of Vingegaard in the attacks is not welcome by other riders. They have little chance of getting away with the yellow jersey in the move and Warren Barguil makes that clear to the Jumbo leader. 

The race blasted through the intermediate sprint, with Mads Pedersen winning to score 20 points. 

Everyone is focused on the attack and the crash victims.

Vingegaard has wisely eased up as the attacks splits and reforms. 

Of course, other riders are trying to get across, including three riders from Uno-X. 

Sadly Kuss has bandages on the side of his left eye. He's going to have to fight even more pain during the stage. 

After a fast opening hour, the rider start the Col de la Croix des Moinats climb. 

Bora-Hansgrohe are trying to drag the peloton up to the attackers. 

80km to go

Jai Hindley has got across to the attack but Ciccone is still ahead with a few other riders.

The peloton is at 30 seconds but Kuss has been dropped after his crash.

There are 2km to climb on the Col de la Croix des Moinats. 

Powless is going clear to cross to the front group as he returns to fight on the climbs. 

Race doctors have treated Carlos Rodriguez and he is okay to race on. 

Skelmose again leads Ciccone to the summit. 

Ciccone and Skelmose again pull off a double move, sweeping up the points. 

Ciccone is the first to the summit and Skelmose is second, with other riders just behind them. That stops Gall and Vingegaard from scoring points.

Ciccone scored 5 points and so now has a total of 98 points. 

He's extended his leads in the polka-dot competition. but there are still 20 points up for grabs on the final 2 climbs.