Pogacar on cusp of 4th Tour de France victory
Paris
Kaden Groves won stage 20 of the Tour de France from a breakaway in Pontarlier as Tadej Pogacar came through the penultimate day unscathed to ensure he will wear yellow into Paris on Sunday.
Groves left Frank van den Broek and Briton Jake Stewart behind with 16 kilometres of the rolling 184km stage from Nantua remaining, taking advantage of their hesitancy to quickly build a lead as he won by 55 seconds from Van den Broek, completing a trilogy with wins in all three Grand Tours.
Behind, the peloton rolled in some seven minutes down, happy to survive a damp day that saw several riders crash as Pogacar retained his 4 minute 24 second lead over rival Jonas Vingegaard on the last day before Paris.
The addition of three ascents of the Montmartre climb to Sunday's finale should rule out the usual Champs-Elysees sprint and keep the racing on for one more day - subject to a threat of rain - but Pogacar can almost start celebrating his fourth Tour title and begin plotting a record-equalling fifth.
Groves' first career Tour stage win was a third of this race for his Alpecin-Deceuninck team but the first since stage two, with their previous two winners Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel since lost to injury and illness.
Pogacar mathematically secured the king of the mountains' polka dot jersey early on this stage, with yellow surely set to follow on Sunday.
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