Carapaz wins Alpine thriller as Pogacar seals yellow and guides Del Toro to third on Tour stage 20

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) claimed a dramatic victory on stage 20 of the Tour de France at Alpe d’Huez, conquering the queen stage of the 2026 edition as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) moved just one day away from securing a fifth yellow jersey.

Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike) had looked on track for a victory after launching a solo move with 17km remaining on the Col de Sarenne. 

The American held a solid advantage over a chasing Carapaz on the final run-in toward Alpe d’Huez, but disaster struck in the finale. Kuss crashed twice in quick succession with 7km and 6km remaining, allowing Carapaz to storm past him on the technical final descent before the short kick up to the finish.

The Ecuadorian would charge his way to a second Alpine stage win in three days, and in addition mathematically secured the polka-dot jersey on the day.

Meanwhile, with Pogačar in his own league in overall standings, the main GC contest on the penultimate stage centred around Isaac del Toro (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) with third place and the white jersey on the line. 

From the upper slopes of the Col du Galibier, Pogačar looked true to his pre-stage comments about helping his Mexican teammate hold off Seixas, as the yellow jersey took control of the pace-setting. 

Decathlon CMA CGM attempted to turn the tables on the Col de Sarenne, where Nicolas Prodhomme and Matthew Riccitello delivered a fierce mountain leadout to launch Seixas. However, deep into his debut Grand Tour, the French teenager’s resources were running thin. Shortly after his attempt to crack Del Toro, it was the Mexican champion who launched a devastating counter-acceleration, which saw Seixas distanced. 

Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) were able to follow Del Toro’s speed before the yellow jersey took up the pace-setting once more, putting an end to Seixas’ podium dreams.

On the final climb to Alpe d’Huez, Evenepoel opened an advantage on Pogacar and Del Toro, with the yellow jersey looking content to pace Del Toro to the finish.

Evenepoel would catch Kuss in the closing kilometres to take second on the stage, 0:26 behind Carapaz, with Kuss ending third. 

Further back, Pogačar and Del Toro would cross the line together, 1:05 behind Carapaz, mission complete as they all but secured the yellow jersey, the white jersey, and the first and third step on the final podium in Paris. 

Ahead of the final stage in Paris, Pogačar leads Evenepoel by 6:26, with Del Toro in third at 9:42. Seixas remains in fourth at 11:56 in his Grand Tour debut.

The final mountain stage of the 2026 Tour kicked off in Le Bourg d'Oisans with a six-man move establishing an early advantage: Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5), Warren Barguil (Picnic PostNL), Joris Delbove (TotalEnergies), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), and Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché).

The road soon rose on the Col de la Croix de Fer, where the original move faded. Following a flurry of counter-attacks, a high-calibre 14-rider group established themselves at the front.

The group included Bruno Armirail, Matteo Jorgenson, Davide Piganzoli, Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike), Thymen Arensman and Tobias Foss (Netcompany-Ineos), Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM).

Remarkably, but increasingly unsurprisingly, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) pushed clear from the peloton on the higher slopes before bridging to the chasers on the descent. 

Out in front, Carapaz struck out 3.6km from the summit in his quest for mountain points. Paret-Peintre attempted to respond but only caught the Ecuadorian over the crest, allowing Carapaz to extend his lead in the standings.

The leading duo was reeled in before the intermediate sprint with 104km remaining. There, Pedersen claimed the maximum 25 points, mathematically securing the green jersey barring incident or accident before Paris.

With just under 100km to go, the Col du Télégraphe began to bite. Jorgenson and Pedersen were distanced from the breakaway, and were soon joined by Armirail, Paret-Peintre, and Braz Afonso.

Back in the peloton, Bahrain-Victorious took up the chase, as Ayuso's presence in the break directly threatened Lenny Martinez’s fifth-place position overall.

Up front, Ayuso and Carapaz drove the pace on the Col du Galibier, with only Hindley, Kuss, and Riccitello able to match them. Ayuso temporarily struggled near the summit as Carapaz took maximum points to claim the Souvenir Henri Desgrange and mathematically seal the polka dot jersey. Shortly after, Riccitello dropped, while Ayuso fought his way back to the front.

Behind them, the yellow jersey group exploded on the Galibier. Tadej Pogačar hit the front with 61km remaining, splitting the field. Only Isaac Del Toro, Remco Evenepoel, and Paul Seixas could follow his strong tempo, though Martinez successfully dug deep to bridge across to the yellow jersey group.

This elite quintet crested the highest point of the 2026 Tour together. On the subsequent descent, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) fought their way back, providing crucial support for Seixas and Evenepoel.

Pogačar spent much of the descent and the valley road on the front, leading the GC favourites onto the Col du Sarenne. Prodhomme then upped the pace to pressure Del Toro, but Pogačar quickly regained control, setting a measured tempo for the main contenders.

With 24km remaining, Hindley launched a dig from the breakaway, as Ayuso started to fade, before Kuss countered, which put Carapaz under pressure. Just a few hundred metres later, Kuss managed to dispatch Hindley with an acceleration, with the American looking to press on solo as he extended his advantage over the yellow jersey group to nearly three minutes.

The dynamics in the GC group changed with 20km remaining as Prodhomme pushed to the front with Seixas in his wheel, as they looked to put the pressure on Del Toro, who was latched onto the French teenager's wheel. Riccitello, who had dropped back from the breakaway, joined the Decathlon train as the pace continued to ramp up.

Carapaz and Hindley reunited with Kuss with 19km remaining up front, as Seixas looked to be struggling to match the explosive pace-setting of Prodhomme, before Riccitello set a more consistent but still strong pace.

With 17.8km remaining, Riccitello peeled off the front, leaving Seixas to try to make the difference, though Del Toro looked comfortable, even holding conversation with his leader-turned luxury domestique. 

That proved to be the case as the Mexican champion soon upped the pace, which saw Pogačar, Evenepoel and Martinez follow, but crucially not Seixas, as the Frenchman's podium dream faded, though not for the want of trying.

All the while, Kuss had pushed clear once more, and although Carapaz dug deep, the American was seemingly on his way to a redeeming end to a difficult Tour for Visma | Lease a Bike. However, two late crashes for Kuss meant that it would be Carapaz who would claim his second stage in three days.