Pogacar set to equal Tour record as Carapaz wins stageImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Pogacar is set for a fifth Tour win – but Carapaz, right, will take the king of the mountains polka dot jerseyPublished32 minutes agoTadej Pogacar is set to secure a record-equalling fifth Tour de France after a dramatic stage 20 saw Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz clinch victory on Alpe d’Huez as Sepp Kuss crashed twice while leading in the last few kilometres.If Pogacar avoids a race-ending crash on Sunday’s final stage to Paris, in which the overall standings are traditionally not contested, he will become the joint-most successful rider in the Tour’s history alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.Pogacar, 27, of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, finished the three-week Grand Tour’s ‘queen’ stage in fourth place after helping his Mexican team-mate Isaac del Toro provisionally seal third place on the overall podium and the young rider classification’s white jersey. Pogacar will claim his fifth overall yellow jersey in Paris by six minutes and 26 seconds over Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, after Evenepoel finished the stage in second, 26 seconds behind Carapaz, after a late charge.Race organisers ASO unveiled during the stage that Sunday’s finale will have its distance reduced from 133km to 89km after the re-direction of emergency services to help tackle devastating wildfires in the south-west of the country.
Traditionally, the final stage sees the sport’s sprinters battle for the line on the famous Champs Elysees cobbles, but a new section over Montmartre allows riders with more sustained power the potential to steal a breakaway win.
