Key events
111km to go: There are two kilometres to go to the top of the first climb to the Ballon D’Alsace. the peloton is fairly tightly bunched with everyone you’d expect to be near the front present and correct. Mads Pederson, another Lidl-Trek teammate of Ciccone’s, is forcing a blistering pace.
112km to go: Mattias Skjelmose tries to lead his teammate Giulio Ciccone up the first climb, with Julian Alaphilippe in close order. The peloton aren’t far behind.
114km to go: Campenaerts is about to be reeled in by the bunch with a little five kilometres of the first climb remaining. Team UAE are on the front of the peloton and on race radio, the riders of Ineos Grenadiers have been told that Tadej Pogacar’s team are targetting the stage win. The problem? They don’t know how they’re going to go about it or which rider they hope to get over the line first. Rafal Majka is one mooted possibility.
118km to go: Giulio Ciccone is a bag of nerves, closely monitoring and trying to follow or close down every attempted move off the front of the bunch.
“He needs to sit back a little bit, take it a bit calmer and wait,” says Eurosport pundit Sean Kelly. “But that’s the style of Ciccone when he’s in a breakaway going for a stage win, he just gets very, very nervous; moving at every little move that goes.”
120km to go: At the head of the course, Jasper De Buyst is already struggling to stay in touch with his apparently tireless teammate Victor Campenaerts on the first climb. He drops back to the bunch.
Several riders, including Ciccone and Julian Alaphilippe, are trying to jump off the front of the bunch with over nine kilometres of the first ascent of the day to go.
122km to go: It behoves us to send birthday greetings to Soudal-Quick-Step’s Dries Devenyns, who is riding in his final Tour de France and turns 40 today. Life begins now, Dries!
123km to go: Guilio Ciccone’s Lidl-Trek team take up position at the front of the bunch as the gap goes out to almost 50 seconds.
128km to go: Campenaerts and De Buyst are left to their own devices for now, the peloton showing no inclination to reel them in this early. Tadej Pogacar’s UAE EMirates team are conspicuous at the front of the bunch today. In the wake of their midweek disappointments, they’ll be hopeful their leader can take the stage win today. Keeping Adam Yates on the third step of the podium will also be a priority. He leads Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) by 1min 16sec.
129km to go: It’s a fairly gentle introuction ahead of today’s first climb, the category two, Ballon d’Alsace which rears its 1,173m-high head 109 kilometres from the finish. It’s a little over 11 kilometres in length with an average gradient of 5%.
They’re off and racing on stage 20 …
132km to go: At the drop of the flag, two Lotto-Dstny riders, Vincent Campenaerts and Jasper De Buyst, immediately make a break for it, quickly opening a gap of 22 seconds on the bunch.
The stage 20 roll-out is under way
The riders are assembled en masse behind Christian Prudhomme’s official red Tour Skoda and have another couple kilometres of the neutral zone through which to meander before getting the signal to begin racing.
It’s likely to be hell-for-leather from the start with this being the last chance for many riders to bag themselves a stage win. It’s been a brilliant race so far, one of the best I can remember, and today’s should be another cracker.
Chrstian Prudhomme on today’s stage: “The penultimate stage features an Alsatian menu that is likely to cause indigestion, even over a distance this short, as the riders face a cumulative total of 3,600 metres of climbing,” writes the Tour director in the race handbook.
“If the contest for the Yellow Jersey is still alive, anything is possible: after the Ballon d’Alsace, there will be an opportunity to launch attacks on the Col de la Croix des Moinats, then a little bit further on when climbing the Col de Grosse Pierre, then on the Schlucht, before then tackling the Petit Ballon and the Platzerwasel. It’s a minefield!”
Now that’s what I call humility …
Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) won yesterday’s superb stage by a whisker and gave what, for my money, was one of the best “post-match” interviews by any sportsman or woman that I have ever seen.
Although he was close to exhaustian and speaking in his second or third language, the Slovenian’s thoughtfulness, generosity of spirit, humility and raw honesty were enough to bring a tear to a glass eye, while his account of the torture he and his fellow riders put themselves through on a daily basis also helped make him plenty of new friends, even among those on social media who have no interest in cycling. His words really seem to have struck a collective chord in and outside the Tour bubble.
There isn’t one quote we could pick out of this interview to do it justice. If there is one interview you watch today, make it this one with @matmohoric.
On n’a pas su choisir une seule citation qui rendrait hommage à l’interview. Du coup si vous devez écoutez un seul interview… pic.twitter.com/sK0LUkCStD
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 21, 2023
King of the Mountains: Giulio Ciccone holds the polka-dot jersey but is only six points ahead of Felix Gall going into a penultimate stage that boasts three category two climbs, a category two and two category ones. The winner of this category will be decided today.
Ciccone will need to do everything he can to hoover up as many KOM points as possible on the early climbs, as race leader Jonas Vingegaard is third in this classification, just seven points behind him. The Dane is more likely to beat the Italian in today’s back-to-back category one climbs towards the end of the stage.
Currtently eighth on General Classification, it will be intriguing to see if Gall focusses on keeping his position inside the top 10 on GC or goes all-out to wrestle the polka-dot jersey from Ciccone.
One of the most iconic jerseys in this or any sport, it’s certainly worth winning, but should Gall try and fail to mug Ciccone, he’ll almost certainly lose his top 10 ranking in the process. The Austrian does, however, already have a stage win to his name in this Tour and if allowed to attack Ciccone by his directeur sportif, may decide it is worth the risk. Decisions, decisions …
⛰️Just because we haven’t had enough mountains, we’re back for more. Petit Ballon, Platzerwasel, Markstein!
⛰️On savait que la montagne vous manquait, donc en voila encore. Petit Ballon, Platzerwasel, Markstein !
💛#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/1j2OQ4h5HP
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 22, 2023
Who’s wearing what jersey?
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Yellow: Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)
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Green: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
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Polka-dot: Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek)
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White: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates)
The top five on General Classification
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Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 75hr 49min 24sec
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Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) +7min 35sec
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Adam Yates (UAE Emirates) +10min 45sec
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Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +12min 01sec
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Simon Yates (Jayco-Ulula) +12min 19sec
Pello Bilbao, Jai Hindley, Felix Gall, Sepp Kuss and David Gaudu make up the top 10.
Mohoric wins while Vingegaard faces more question
Stage 19 report: Matej Mohoric won a volatile 19th stage of the Tour de France after narrowly outsprinting Kasper Asgreen, a stage winner 24 hours earlier, in Poligny. Jeremy Whittle reports on another thrilling stage …
Belfort to Le Markstein Fellering (133.5km)
William Fotheringham on stage 20: A final mountain stage where the organisers will hope for a conclusive showdown between, ideally, Pogacar and Vingegaard. [“This was written pre-Tour” – Ed.]
Given this isn’t a million miles from the home of the French chouchou Thibaut Pinot, the home fans and media will be dreaming up a perfect exit for the three-time stage winner in his final Tour over six of the best passes the Vosges can offer.
