Australian Ben O'Connor of Jayco AlUla team won the 18th stage of the Tour de France, even as Tadej Pogacar tightened his grip over the yellow jersey.
O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion and UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Pogacar responded to attacks from rival Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey.
With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than four minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion.
Starting with the day with a deficit of 4:15s, second-placed Vingegaard attacked a massive 71km out with Pogacar tracking him and eventually dropping the Dane to gain more time near the final summit.
Jayco Alula's stage winner O'Connor said he was relieved to win again four years after his triumph in the Alps at Tignes.
“It's amazing to win here and I'm relieved to get a win for the team,” said O'Connor, who rode at a steady pace all the way up the final climb.
“(The Tour) is a rough race,” O'Connor said. “It's the biggest race in the world but for sure it's the cruellest. I've wanted another victory for so many years now, I've had a lot of thirds and fourths, so close.
“I couldn't be more proud of myself and the boys that have backed me every single day this whole race, even in the pretty rough times.”
UAE Team Emirates star Pogacar is now on the cusp of a fourth Tour de France title, after reversing the roles and sitting on Vingegaard's wheel and wasting little energy.
Vingegaard was subdued atop the Col de La Loze.
“It was brutal, I've never lived anything so hard. The team did well and we had a good plan, but I couldn't take any time off Tadej,” he said.
On the mountain where Pogacar famously cracked in 2023 as Vingegaard rode away to his second Tour crown, Pogacar was the one gaining time two years later as a late dig at the summit saw him add 11 seconds to an overall lead that now stands at four minutes and 26 seconds over Vingegaard.
Friday's five mountain slog amid the imposing panoramas between Albertville and La Plaigne will be the last chance for a reversal of fortunes with 60km of steep slopes to negotiate.
The race ends Sunday in Paris with the finish line at the Champs Elysees after three climbs to the Sacre Coeur Basilica on the cobbled lanes of Montmartre.
