Tadej Pogacar could hardly help himself as he took his fifth stage victory of this year’s Tour de France, with a third overall crown all but sure to follow on Sunday.
Pogacar said he would be happy for a breakaway to win stage 20 from Nice to the Col de la Couillole on Saturday, but Remco Evenepoel’s attempt to test Jonas Vingegaard’s grip on second place played into Pogacar’s hands and allowed him to stretch his overall advantage yet further to five minutes 14 seconds.
There may not be the usual ceremonial final stage into Paris this year as a 34km time trial between Monaco and Nice awaits on Sunday but the podium places feel set all the same, with Evenepoel’s deficit to Vingegaard now two minutes and 50 seconds.
“I enjoyed it very much,” Pogacar said. “It didn’t go as planned but I couldn’t be happier with that, another stage win. I’m really happy, just one more day, a time trial tomorrow and I think I’m going to enjoy that as well…
“If you told me (this situation) before the Tour I would not believe it and it’s just out of this world.”
Pogacar’s achievements just keep piling up. He becomes only the second man to win five mountain stages of a single Tour after Gino Bartali in 1948, and after bossing the Giro d’Italia earlier this season, he is on the verge of completing the first Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.
True to his word, Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates had been happy to let the breakaway go, their job effectively done with the Slovenian’s stage win in Isola a day earlier.
But after an emotional Vingegaard had admitted to his struggles on Friday, Evenepoel set his Soudal-QuickStep team to work in a bid to dislodge the defending champion from second place, chasing down a strong 10-man breakaway whose lead was never more than four-and-a-half minutes.
Evenepoel tried two attacks midway up the Couillole but could not shake Vingegaard, who then countered to distance the Belgian while dragging Pogacar up the mountain with him.
The yellow jersey could just bide his time on Vingegaard’s wheel as they reeled in Richard Carapaz and Enric Mas, the last two survivors of the breakaway, before Pogacar sprinted through the final few hundred metres to claim yet another win.
Vingegaard crossed the line seven seconds later, putting 46 seconds into Evenepoel on the road and six seconds in bonuses.
It was a show of defiance from the two-time Tour winner, who was left in tears on Friday as his challenge for yellow effectively ended, with the impact of the horrible injuries he suffered in April laid bare.
“If I will finish second I will probably rate it as one of the biggest results of my career with where I was coming from in the last three months, breaking almost every bone in my upper body on the right side and puncturing both lungs,” the two-time Tour winner said.
“Where I am now, I’m just incredibly proud of the journey me and my family have been on.”
The 27-year-old offered a wry smile as he admitted he had hoped Pogacar might have allowed him the stage win, but he always knew what was coming.
“You can always hope but it’s cycling and I don’t blame him at all,” Vingegaard said. “I would probably do the same. I’m just happy with my performance and how I came back from yesterday.”
Carapaz finished third on the stage, having done enough to secure the king of the mountains classification.
Stage 20 results
1 Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) 4hrs 4mins 22secs
2 Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +07secs
3 Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-Easy Post) +23secs
4 Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal- Quick Step) +53secs
5 Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +1min 07secs
General classification
1 Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) 82hrs 53mins 32secs
2 Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +5mins 14secs
3 Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal- Quick Step) +8mins 04sec
4 Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +16mins 45secs
5 Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal-Quick Step) +17mins 25secs
6 Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) +21mins 11secs
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Disability on screen
Empire — neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis; bipolar disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Rosewood and Transparent — heart issues
24: Legacy — PTSD;
Superstore and NCIS: New Orleans — wheelchair-bound
Taken and This Is Us — cancer
Trial & Error — cognitive disorder prosopagnosia (facial blindness and dyslexia)
Grey’s Anatomy — prosthetic leg
Scorpion — obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety
Switched at Birth — deafness
One Mississippi, Wentworth and Transparent — double mastectomy
Dragons — double amputee
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Saturday
West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur (3.30pm)
Burnley v Huddersfield Town (7pm)
Everton v Bournemouth (7pm)
Manchester City v Crystal Palace (7pm)
Southampton v Manchester United (7pm)
Stoke City v Chelsea (7pm)
Swansea City v Watford (7pm)
Leicester City v Liverpool (8.30pm)
Sunday
Brighton and Hove Albion v Newcastle United (7pm)
Monday
Arsenal v West Bromwich Albion (11pm)
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
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The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2 (Benzema 13', Kroos 28')
Barcelona 1 (Mingueza 60')
Red card: Casemiro (Real Madrid)
Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
