Carapaz wins the Alpe d'Huez queen stage as Kuss crashes and Pogacar closes on a fifth Tour
The Ecuadorian takes his second win in three days and seals the mountains jersey on the Tour's hardest-ever stage, as Tadej Pogacar all but confirms a record-equalling fifth title.
Richard Carapaz won the queen stage of the 2026 Tour de France, soloing to victory on Alpe d'Huez after a brutal day in the mountains and a dramatic late crash by his closest rival. It was the Ecuadorian's second stage win in three days, and it sealed the polka-dot mountains classification he had defended all week.
Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) went up the road early, part of a 14-rider breakaway that formed on the first of four enormous climbs across the 170.9km route. Stage 20 may be the hardest in Tour history, packing roughly 5,600 metres of climbing into a single day and, for the first time, placing a second Alpe d'Huez finish on the penultimate stage. This time the race reached the resort not by its famous 21 hairpins but over the irregular Col de Sarenne.
The stage turned on the final climb. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked with around 17km to go and looked the strongest, but as the leaders dropped into Alpe d'Huez he crashed twice in the closing kilometres, once in a tunnel and again on a descent where a safety net spared him a heavier fall. Largely unhurt, Kuss recovered to take second. Remco Evenepoel came through for third at 26 seconds.
Behind them, the general classification barely moved. Race leader Tadej Pogacar spent the day working for UAE Team Emirates teammate Isaac del Toro, who held on to the final podium place behind Pogacar and Evenepoel. Fourth on the stage was enough for Pogacar to all but confirm a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title.
Only the shortened final stage into Paris remains. Barring disaster, Pogacar will roll into the capital in yellow, while Carapaz heads there with a stage win and the mountains crown already in hand.
