LAST UPDATE | 20 Jul 2024
OVERALL LEADER TADEJ Pogacar won for a fifth time on this Tour de France on Saturday as defending champion Jonas Vingegaard came second and Remco Evenepoel third, around a minute behind.
With just Sunday’s concluding time trial to come, two-time champion Pogacar has a five minute 14-second lead over Vingegaard as he effectively made sure of becoming the first man in 26 years to capture the Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double in the same season.
The day’s action culminated on the tough Col de Couillole climb where Evenepoel attacked Vingegaard in an attempt to take second place overall.
Instead he himself dropped around 53sec on the Dane, making it less likely the Belgian can claim second place after Sunday’s time trial, where he is favourite for the stage win.
Evenepoel did however virtually guarantee third place overall and the white jersey as best young rider.
Olympic champion Richard Carapaz, regarded as the most combative rider on the 2024 Tour, will win the climb points jersey.
Carapaz came third Saturday, won a stage and even took the yellow jersey for a day early in the Tour.
Ireland’s Ben Healy crossed the line 58th today, 23min 16sec behind the winner Pogacar. He is now in 26th place overall, 1hr 48min 29sec behind the yellow jersey.
Of the 3,498km on this 2024 Tour there remains just 34, a challenging run along the narrow, undulating corniche between the principality of Monaco, where many in the peloton live, and the French Riviera town of Nice.
Rory on fire at the moment – joy to watch.
The now mature Rory is handling The pressure very well. Fingers crossed.
Reed packing serious timber.
Reed has this wrapped up
@Carl Johnson: hopefully .got him at 33′s.a few early bogies from Rory will have me smiling
@Carl Johnson: haha. A 3 shot lead going into the final round is nothing. Just ask mcilroy or Greg norman. Mcilroy played some round with alot of scrambling. My money on him.
@Carl Johnson: there could be a 2 or 3 shot swing within the first 3/4 holes, and the back nine on a Sunday is a different beast altogether. Only a fool would write off Rory at this stage
@Ardmore02: got Rory at 6-1 this evening here’s hoping
@Carl Johnson: Come on John Rahm!!
@Paul Friday Shannon: fair play dude. Wish ya luck.
I have to declare that I have a vested interest in Paddy Reed winning as I have backed him @ 50/1 e/w but I am so looking forward to himself & Rory going head to head tomorrow. Their Ryder Cup battle in 2016 was one of the best singles duels of all time. Let’s hope they replicate that tomorrow at Augusta. Can’t see the winner coming from outside of these 2 but you never know. Fowler could be the only one but he’d need to a shoot sub 66 & that’s a big ask on Masters Sunday.
Reed not the fitted looking bloke… 4 tough rounds takes its toll…. could be what separates them at the end
Great stuff