Tadej Pogacar restored some damaged pride after sealing a thrilling victory on Stage 20 of the Tour de France on Saturday.
The UAE Team Emirates rider had seen his hopes of winning a third title evaporate this week after first being trounced by defending champion Jonas Vingegaard in the time-trial on Wednesday.
Then 24 hours later – on a gruelling Stage 17 with 69 kilometres of Alpine climbs – Pogacar cracked completely to leave his Danish rival seven minutes and 35 seconds clear in the overall standings.
But on the final day of competitive racing before Sunday's processional stage to Paris, Pogacar claimed victory after 133.5 kilometres of racing from Belfort, outsprinting Austrian Felix Gall for his second win in this year's race.
Overall, Jumbo-Visma rider Vingegaard leads Pogacar by seven min and 29 sec with the Slovenian's teammate Adam Yates in third position, 10 min 56 sec off the pace.
“We have to be careful not to do anything stupid but, yeah, it’s amazing to take my second victory in the Tour de France and I almost cannot believe it,” Vingegaard said.
Italian Giulio Ciccone secured the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification and Belgian Jasper Philipsen is set to win the green jersey for the points classification, providing that they both cross the finish line in Paris.
“After such a hard week I felt like myself on the bike today. I was feeling great. I tried to go solo but I could not so it had to be a sprint,” said Pogacar.
“I finally feel like myself again. It was good to feel good again from start to finish after many days of suffering. To pull it off at the finish line, I’m just super, super happy.
“I was waiting for Adam [Yates] to come back, and his brother [Simon] again, they were super good. I know him very well, he led me out really good. Thanks to him it was a bit easier to prepare the final and less nervous.”
Local hero, France's Thibaut Pinot, meanwhile, produced his last mountain effort as he rode on his training roads with thousands of fans cheering him on with flags, beers and flares.
Pinot went solo on the ascent to the Petit Ballon, riding as stage leader through a sea of roaring fans like a man possessed. Although he did not have the legs to take it all the way to the line, the Groupama-FDJ rider finished seventh after a spine-tingling day on the bike.
“I really enjoyed it, I had a big pinch on my heart, it's the roads where I train, it was crazy,” said Pinot, third in the 2014 Tour and by far the country's most popular rider.
“I did not think it would move me that much, I feel like I've closed a chapter in my history – it's stronger than I thought,” he added, with tears in his eyes.
Pogacar had attacked on the last climb of the day, the Col du Platzerwazel (7.1km at 8.4 per cent), and was followed by Vingegaard and Gall.
The trio quickly caught Pinot, fellow Frenchman Warren Barguil and Briton Tom Pidcock, and dropped them before battling it out for the stage win after being rejoined by the Yates twins.
Vingegaard attempted to spring clear with 300m to go, but he was tracked by Pogacar and sat up once he knew his hopes of taking the stage win were over, with Gall passing him before the line.
