Tour de France stage 20: Groves completes Grand Tour trilogy, Pogacar reflects on ‘crazy' race, Jegat ghosts into top 10

New York Times

7 days ago

Kaden Groves won a rain-soaked stage 20 at the Tour de France on Saturday, attacking from the break with 17 kilometres remaining and soloing to victory in Pontarlier. It completes a Grand Tour trilogy for the Australian, who has adds today's stage win to seven in the Vuelta a Espana and two in the Giro d'Italia.
There are few days at a Tour de France which are more challenging than a medium mountain stage on the penultimate day. Throw in yet more bad weather and it was another brutally intense afternoon for everyone involved.
It took almost 100 kilometres for the day's break to properly establish itself, and with names such as Tim Wellens, Matteo Jorgenson, Romain Gregoire, Matteo Trentin, Ewan Costiou, Kaden Groves, Pascal Eenkhoorn and Ivan Romeo involved, the peloton was more than happy to let them go up the road and fight for the win.
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Jordan Jegat — who began the day 11th on GC — was also present, which spurred Jayco-Alula, the team of 10th-placed Ben O'Connor — into a brief response, albeit one that saw Mauro Schmid slide out on a descent.
And that wasn't the last crash of the day. Winding roads combined with spells of torrential rain meant that several riders came down, with the worst of the incidents involving Romeo and Gregoire with around 20km to go.
That effectively reduced the potential stage winner to one of three riders: Frank van den Broek, Jake Stewart and Groves. And when the Australian attacked with 17km remaining, hesitation from the other two proved fatal. Van den Broek tried to chase him down, and made minor inroads into Groves' lead, but ultimately it was too little, too late.
Jacob Whitehead and Duncan Alexander analyse the penultimate stage.
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Kaden Groves was not meant to be in this position. The popular Australian has been a Grand Tour stage winner before, even winning the sprinters' jersey at the 2023 and 2024 Vuelta a Espana.
But the 26-year-old was at the Tour in service of Alpecin-Deceuninck's two stars, Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel, who each won one of the opening two stages.
But neither is here now, Philipsen crashing out on stage three and Van der Poel withdrawing with pneumonia on the second rest day. This is Groves' team now, though a team which had seemed reluctant to use him as their main sprinter after finishing second to Jonathan Milan in Laval, and having prioritised Van der Poel and Jonas Rickaert's breakaway the day before.
Yet this was a hugely impressive win from Groves. Typically specialising in uphill sprint finishes rather than long range attacks, Groves outlasted far superior climbers as he broke clear with 17km to go. Even with the engine of Frank van den Brouck chasing him down, Groves maintained his gap to win by 54 seconds.
It was his first Tour stage win, and Alpecin's third of the race — major exposure to a team still searching for a title sponsor next year.
🏁 The final kilometer of a victory savored alone by Kaden Groves!
🏁 Le dernier kilomètre d'une victoire savourée en solitaire par Kaden Groves !#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/KiZngV86Qx
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 26, 2025
'We knew it was in his possibilities, but to be honest, I have to say I didn't really believe in it,' said his DS Christoph Roodhooft. 'But he's a very strong rider, not a pure sprinter, and that's something we all know.'
'We came here with some many plans with Mathieu and Jasper,' said Groves. 'And my own opportunities haven't all gone the right way. But I just had super legs today, and suffered all the way to the line.'
The day's breakaway, when it eventually formed, was a perfect balance of profiles and skillsets. There were veterans, youngsters, rouleurs, puncheurs and sprinters who can climb — all motivated by the prize of a stage win at the Tour de France. UAE's Tim Wellens and Visma's Matteo Jorgenson seemed to spend much of the stage eyeing each other up, satellite representatives of a much bigger battle, albeit one riding under a truce today.
EF Education-Easypost's Harry Sweeny, who has been a tireless domestique for Ben Healy in this Tour, built a solo lead after chasing down Jordan Jegat, but was reeled in as the rolling terrain and the weather turned the screw on everyone.
😱 A scare for @harry_sweeny but the Aussie is still all alone in the lead!
😱 Frayeur pour @harry_sweeny, mais l'Australien est toujours bien en tête !#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/Ll28xnLzNu
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 26, 2025
Ivan Romeo and Roman Gregoire then pushed on on the descent of the Côte de Longeville, but the Spanish champion misjudged a corner in the wet conditions, slamming into a kerb moments later. Gregoire — directly behind him — also went down, although was able to remount quickly. Romeo did not, although he did eventually finish the stage.
That left three up front — Kaden Groves, Jake Stewart and Frank van den Broek. In a sapping race, on a day of attrition and in the sort of weather that no-one enjoys, they were the chosen survivors. But there could only be one winner; Groves will remember this stage fondly for the rest of his life, he will very much be in the minority.
🇨🇵 💛 #TDF2025 – Etapa 20 🏁
Apasionante jornada de media montaña en el corazón del macizo del Jura y donde, una vez más en este @LeTour, volvimos a meternos en fuga.
🤕 En el día de @ivanromeo_03 y con la lluvia también como protagonista. El piso mojado no tuvo piedad con el… pic.twitter.com/Qjly02cqOw
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) July 26, 2025
Duncan Alexander
Midway through the climb of the category two Côte de Thésy, TNT commentator Matt White described Jordan Jegat as 'the most recognized climber in the group' as he pulled clear of the breakaway. While stylistically true, it felt jarring.
Because while the 26-year-old Jegat has been in the upper reaches of general classification for much of the race, it feels like he's barely been seen. Could you pick him out of a identity parade?
The Team TotalEnergies rider is yet to win a race as a professional, so this year's Tour has been by far the biggest month of the Frenchman's career. A top 25 finish in the stage 13 mountain time trial pushed him up to 11th in the GC — and that's where he's stayed, until today.
As he pushed to join the breakaway in stage 20, rival teams were at least aware of his ranking within the race, with Team Picnic PostNL radioing Frank van den Broek and telling him to inform Jegat that his presence might be detrimental to the breakaway, as it would force Ben O'Connor's Jayco-Alulu team to chase it.
A top 10 finish in the Tour de France is a career highlight for many pro riders, especially one riding for a second division team. Jegat distinguished himself on Thursday's queen stage, rejoining the group containing Tadej Pogacar and Jones Vingegaard on the valley road after the Col de la Madeleine and eventually finishing 20th up the Col de la Loze.
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Such an effort almost broke him, though. Asked by L'Equipe whether he would continue his bid to break into the top 10 in stage 19, a haunted Jegat replied: 'I will not attack, I am traumatized.' He still managed a 14th-place finish in La Plagne, though.
On stage 20 Jegat was back in the thick of the action again. If there were pleas for him to leave the breakaway he evidently ignored them, and although his attempt to attack solo mid-stage only lasted for a few kilometres, the growing gap to the peloton saw him jump above O'Connor into the top 10 in the virtual standings, which is where he stayed. Jegat now has an advantage of nearly two minutes on O'Connor, a margin he should be able to defend easily on Sunday.
At the finish O'Connor made it clear he was frustrated with UAE's unwillingness to help his team chase the break, but really, why should Pogacar care about who finishes 10th? For the increasingly-noticed Jegat, though, it's huge.
Duncan Alexander
When Tadej Pogacar stood on the podium after overcoming his final mountain challenge, the yellow jersey looked visibly tired.
'I can't wait for it to be over,' he said. 'I don't feel super energised right now to think about Sunday's racing. It's a really hectic parcours, so I think it's going to be a tough one.'
Pogacar wants a holiday — and so do his challengers. Vingegaard did not have the legs to take on the Slovenian on the climb to La Plagne, while no other rider is within 10 minutes on general classification. Visma did not explode the race on Friday — while on Saturday's stage to Pontarlier, the peloton was perfectly happy to let the break go after the intermediate sprint.
'Every year we say 'it's the hardest Tour ever', the hardest thing we've ever done, it's all so crazy, but honestly I know that this year was something on another level,' Pogacar said after the stage.
'There was maybe one day that we went a bit easier, if you look on the power files throughout the whole Tour, it's been really amazing and really tough. Even today we almost did all-out from start to finish, and I must say that even though it was one of the toughest ones I ever did, I enjoyed it, because I had good shape and good legs, and I'm really looking forward to the last day tomorrow.
'Monday I travel, Tuesday maybe I'm on the bike, you never know. If I feel good, I go a bit riding, stop for coffee, and enjoy summer at home.'
The race leader was also asked about David Rozman, the INEOS soigneur who has left the Tour amid an investigation into historic links with a doping doctor.
'I don't know anything about this case. I heard what was going in the last few days with the situation. It's not nice to hear what is going on. I don't know him so well, he was in Sky and INEOS for quite a long time, but I don't know much about the situation so I can't say much.'
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Next month, Pogacar was initially slated to compete in the Vuelta a Espana, but discussions have been taking place over whether he will compete in his second Grand Tour. After a busier spring than usual, this would be the time for rest.
'We will decide a couple of days after the Tour when everything is calm and heads are clear, then we make decisions for the next races. It's going to be tough to decide. Of course I would like to go to the Vuelta. Every year I do the Tour and I would like to do the Vuelta one day also, so we will see.
UAE Team Emirates are likely to send Juan Ayuso as their team leader if Pogacar does not ride.
Jacob Whitehead
MISSION ACOMPLISHED ✅Jonathan Milan crossed the line with an 80-point lead in the green jersey classification. Providing he finishes tomorrow's stage he is guaranteed to win the green jersey 🇮🇹
MISSION ACCOMPLIE ✅Jonathan Milan a passé la ligne avec 80 points d'avance au… pic.twitter.com/DBlN1jQePT
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 26, 2025
The final stage of the Tour returns to the French capital after an Olympic-themed gap year in 2024, and the Paris games have influenced the 2025 edition too. Such was the success of the Montmartre climb in the Olympic road races, it has been added (three times) to the traditionally flat final stage of the Tour de France. Historically, the yellow jersey is not fought for on the last day, but with this new route… perhaps it might be. At the very least it may ensure we don't see a sprint finish.
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