PREVIEW | Tour de France 2024 stage 20 - Tadej Pogacar's celebration ride through the mountains
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar has virtually sealed his victory in the Tour de France. At this point there will be no hope left for rivals to win the Grand Boucle but we still have one interesting final mountain showdown taking place from Nice to the tough Col de la Couillole. We preview stage 20.
Stage 20 will be the final day in the mountains for the Grand Boucle, short in distance however it'll be in the Alpes Maritimes that it'll take place, a rough day with four categorized climbs including the Col de Braus, Col de Turini, Col de la Colmiane and the Col de la Couillole - all frequent appearances as the queen stages at Paris-Nice.
Stage 20: Nice - Col de la Couillole, 133 kilometers
All constant climbs with short distances. Ordinarily not a day to make massive differences, but it's stage 20 of the Tour and the day after a beastly mountain stage so more can happen here than what is usually the case. The riders start off in Nice and after a few kilometers, tackle their first big challenge: the Col de Braus. 10.2 kilometers at 6.3%, it ends with 109 kilometers to go. The breakaway of the day should be formed here.
Col de Braus: 10.2Km; 6.3%; 109Km to go
Next up the hardest climb of the day in my opinion, the longest of the day as well which is the Col de Turini. 20.8 kilometers at 5.7%, it's final 12 kilometers average 7% and the summit is at 1600 meters of altitude. The climb ends with 73.5 kilometers to go but no big moves are expected here however.
Col de Turini: 20.8Km; 5.7%; 73.5Km to go
Next up the Col de la Colmaine which is 7.5 kilometers at 6.9%. Nothing too special about it, but it will add to the difficulty of the day and not provide the riders with restbite ahead of the final ascent. This one ends with 37.5 kilometers to go.
Col de la Colmiane: 7.5Km; 6.9%; 37.5Km to go
Finally, the Col de la Couillole. The last true mountain of this year's Tour and also the final summit finish of the race. The climb is 15.8 kilometers at 7.3% which is quite hard. It's very constant however, but the gradients will be enough for serious attacks to be dealt.
Col de la Couillole: 15.8Km; 7.3%
The Weather
Map Tour de France 2024 stage 20
A hot day and some wind from the south. It will mean a tailwind in the first two climbs of the day whilst later in the day we should have mostly a crosswind in the final ascent to the Col de la Couillole.
The Favourites
Tadej Pogacar - There's really nothing left to say. He is the strongest uphill, head and shoulders, and unless something weird happens he will not be put under any difficulties by his rivals. It is only a matter of UAE letting the breakaway fight for victory or not, but honestly despite their success, UAE might as well just pace throughout the day and go on to win once again.
Jonas Vingegaard & Remco Evenepoel - Regarding the stage win, it won't happen unless there is a very unusual day. Pogacar will keep an eye on them, will be able to match any attack and should also be comfortably able to outsprint them. These two now fight for second and third but I don't expect it to change, and I don't expect gaps between the both of them either at the summit finish.
GC Fight - Some questions have been answered; as Carlos Rodríguez will not fight for the fourth place, whilst Felix Gall and Steff Cras can be outcast from a Top10. João Almeida and Mikel Landa still have a battle for fourth place, the climbs suit the Portuguese better but it'll be interesting to see if Quick-Step will try a different strategy. Adam Yates should comfortably keep his seventh place; Whilst Santiago Buitrago could jump into the Top10 if Derek Gee, Matteo Jorgenson or Giulio Ciccone (as happened today) struggle.
Breakaway - So the question that lies is whether UAE will let the breakaway go for the win. It actually looked like it'd work today with extremely good climbers in front and a healthy gap at the base of the climb, but Pogacar blew everyone out of the gates. Means that at the base of Couillole it will be necessary to have around four minutes at the base to be able to realistically ambition the victory if he has the same legs as today.
The men to keep under are pretty much the ones that were in front today with Matteo Jorgenson having very good climbs for his characteristics, whilst both Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz were obvious choices to be fighting for a breakaway win. Fatigue may start to be felt on the latter two after so many breakaway attempts however. Perhaps a few riders have been a bit more hidden could have better legs on the day.
Tobias Johannessen who crashed on stage 18 and Jai Hindley perhaps will not be at their idea level... But we've got Wilco Kelderman also as a very dangerous figure for Visma; Enric Mas, Egan Bernal, Laurens de Plus, Guillaume Martin, Romain Bardet, Louis Meintjes, Oscar Onley, Jan Hirt, Carlos Verona and Bob Jungels as outsiders for the day.
Prediction Tour de France 2024 stage 20:
*** Tadej Pogacar
** Simon Yates, Enric Mas, Laurens de Plus, Richard Carapaz
* Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Mikel Landa, João Almeida, Tobias Johannessen, Egan Bernal, Carlos Verona, Jan Hirt
** Simon Yates, Enric Mas, Laurens de Plus, Richard Carapaz
* Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Mikel Landa, João Almeida, Tobias Johannessen, Egan Bernal, Carlos Verona, Jan Hirt
Pick: Tadej Pogacar
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
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