The Australian Kades Grove won the 20th stage of the Tour de France. In Pontarlier, after partly pouring rain, he surprisingly won as a soloist. Frank van den Broek, third Pascal Eenkhoorn. Tadej Pogacar defended his lead in the overall classification and faces the tour victory.
Grove had settled from a three -member outlier group 16 kilometers before the finish line. Atypical for the Australian, which as a strong sprinter usually does not celebrate a solo victory. For the team Alpecin-Deceuninck, Groves made the third win on this tour: Jasper Philipsen had won the 1st stage, Mathieu van der Poel the 2nd stage. However, both are no longer part of the tour.
Sportschau Tourfunk, 07/26/2025 8:54 p.m.
Groves has now with the greatest success of his career with everyone Grand Tours Daily victories celebrated. Previously, the 26-year-old already won two stages at the Giro, one again this year, and seven stages at the Vuelta.
Kaden Grove (front) in the final of the 20th stage
Lipowitz separate 120 km from the tour podium
With the favorite group around Pogacar in the yellow jersey, Florian Lipowitz reached the goal and thus drives to Paris as third in the overall classification. The German now lacks only 120 kilometers for the greatest success of a German on the tour since 2006. The 24-year-old also wears the white jersey of the best young professional to Paris.
His first conclusion in an interview with the sports show: “The three weeks were super hard and I would never have expected it to be able to ride the podium at all. Of course, a dream will come true.” For Pogacar it is only important to arrive at the last stage. His lead over the overall runner-up Jonas Vingegaard is 4:24 minutes.
| Place | driver | Time |
|---|---|---|
1 | Florian Lipowitz | 74:06:08 |
2 | Oscar onley | + 01:03 |
3 | Kévin Vauquelin | + 11:26 |
4 | Ben Healy | + 16:53 |
5 | Raul Garcia | + 2:04:49 |
The 20th stage led over 184.2 kilometers from Nantua to Pontarlier. On the penultimate day of the tour, things went up and down, there were 2,900 meters of altitude. And not only the profile but also the weather would have fit well with a spring classic. With pouring rain and relatively cool temperatures, it went into the first of four mountain ratings after the start.
Pogacar has Berg jersey safe
Louis Barré got the first two mountain points of the day. This was irrelevant for the French, because so far he had no counters in the rating for the mountain jersey. The professional of Intermarché-Wanty made the decision in the mountain ranking. The dotted jersey was no longer theoretically no longer to be snatched. If the Slovenian arrives in Paris, then he also won the mountain jersey.
However, Barrè could not really stop. For many teams, the 20th stage was the last chance to win a stage. The hustle and bustle in the Pelotonthere were many attacks, always gaps. But it was only after 65 kilometers that the first group of the day with 13 professionals – with: Groves, Tim Wellens and Matteo Jorgenson. The best placement in the overall classification was among the outliers Jordan Jegat. The Frenchman was eleventh four minutes behind Ben O’Connor.
In the partially pouring rain, the professionals went to Pontarlier
Only after 90 kilometers of rest in the peloton
In the field, however, there were still teams that were not satisfied and wanted to send drivers forward into the group. Therefore, the ripper of the outliers initially remained in the second area. Only after half of the route, after over 90 kilometers, calm returned, nobody had made it forward more – and the head start of the outlier grew quickly to two minutes. The weather had also improved now, after a very rainy start, the streets dried and the sun was also looking.
The hardest climb of the day, the Cote de Thesy 66 kilometers before the finish, the field at the front and behind it sorted. The only mountain ranking of the day of the 2nd category was 3.6 kilometers long and with an 8.9 percent climber on average really steep. And there were attacks both in the top group and in the main field. Harry Sweeny, who won the five mountain points above, took the lead a few kilometers after the rating as a soloist. There were two chasing groups behind the Australian.
Frenchman Jegat moves up to tenth place
After almost 30 kilometers of solo flight and 26 kilometers before the finish, again in dense rain, Sweeny’s escape was over. The new top group initially consisted of ten professionals. The main field had a five -minute deficit at that time, so it was clear that the victory would go to an outlier. Falls and attacks led to a reduction in the outlier group.
20 kilometers before the finish was only one trio in front. With Grove and Jake Stewart there were two sprint -strong drivers, the third was van den Broek. Grove obviously didn’t want to get a sprint. The Australian settled alone 16 kilometers before the finish. The last ten kilometers he went on 52 seconds. For Jegat, the leap into the first outline group also paid off, the Frenchman finished seventh and moved to tenth in the overall ranking.
How does the Montmartre change the Paris stage?
On Sunday the tour returns to Paris after a year break. Because of the Olympic Games in the French capital, Nice was the final stage in 2024.
In Paris the goal is back on the Champs-Élysées. However, this time it shouldn’t be one Sprint Royal give. For the first time, the 21st stage goes over the Paris local mountain Montmartreand three times. The last passage over the 1.1 -kilometer climb with an average of 5.9 percent gradient takes place six kilometers before the finish line. Punch should therefore contest the day victory for the sprinters.