Jonas Vingegaard took a giant stride toward a second consecutive Tour de France title when rival Tadej Pogacar cracked in unexpected and spectacular fashion during Stage 17, the toughest of the race, on Wednesday.
A day after crushing Pogacar in the individual time trial, Vingegaard went solo around 5 kilometers from the top of the Col de la Loze mountain pass and did not look back despite being slowed down by an organizers' car and a race motorbike.
He could not catch stage-winner Felix Gall of Austria, who attacked from the breakaway 6.4 km from the top to move up to eighth overall, but his fourth place finish at the end of the 165.7-km trek from Saint Gervais was more than enough for Vingegaard to start planning to celebrate in Paris on Sunday.