Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is much more than a sprinter, as he has proved time and again in his career - though never before at the Tour de France. Already a winner of seven stages at La Vuelta and two at the Giro d’Italia, the Australian rider came to the French Grand Tour for the first time this year as lead-out man for Jasper Philipsen, who crashed out of the race on day 3. After Mathieu van der Poel also retired due to illness at the beginning of week 3, Groves made today’s breakaway, displaying his versatility in a stage marked by aggressive racing from Santa to Pontarlier, where he took his maiden Tour stage win. Part of a 13-man breakaway, he covered the final 16 kilometres solo to claim victory ahead of Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL) and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step). He is the 114th rider to win stages in all three Grand Tours. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) leads the overall standings going into the final stage on Sunday in Paris.
Attackers feel it’s their time to shine with a 184.2-km challenging course from Nantua to Pontarlier. Many riders have been targeting stage 20 of the Tour 2025 for a long time as they envision a great opportunity to change the script and claim victory on the eve of the Champs-Élysées. Yevgeniy Fedorov doesn’t participate in this battle as his team XDS Astana reports he has to retire due to an intestinal infection.
A huge battle for the breakaway
Right from the gun, Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost) sets off. The Danish rouleur has found success on these roads before, having pulled off a hard-fought breakaway victory in Bourg-en-Bresse (stage 18, 2023), some 30 kilometres west of Nantua. The Danish goes hard under the rain but he doesn’t succeed in breaking away due to the many attacks and counter-attacks shaking up the bunch.
His EF teammates, and notably Ben Healy, are very active. Harry Sweeny eventually makes a 13-man breakaway formed at km 65, as the Australian rider joins Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) with nine more chasers: Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-Quick Step), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Matteo Trentin (Tudor), Ivan Romeo (Movistar), Simone Velasco (XDS-Astana), Jordan Jegat (Total Energies), Frank van den Broek (Picnic-PostNL) and Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech).
Sweeny tries his luck
As Jegat threatens Ben O’Connor’s 10th place in the overall standings (4’08’’ of difference between them), Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) is tasked with driving the scattered bunch. Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) are momentarily dropped but the situation eventually settles. Despite a crash at km 71, the Swiss national champion controls the gap at 2’30’’ at the bottom of the main climb of the day, Côte de Thésy.
Jegat accelerates on the climb. Sweeny joins him at the summit. And the Australian rider goes solo with 54 kilometres to go to the finish. He opens a gap of 40’’ to his his breakaway rivals before the latter change the script. Ten riders get back together as they hit the bottom of the Côte de Longeville (cat. 4, summit 24.1km away from the finish). Costiou, Wellens and Jorgenson have been distanced.
A dramatic finale
A group of six riders emerges over the top: Grégoire, Romeo, Velasco, Groves, Stewart and Van den Broek. Grégoire accelerates on the downhill but his rivals follow. Romeo counter-attacks but he slips in a turn with 22 km to go and hits the deck. Grégoire and Velasco are also affected. Groves, Stewart and Van den Broek keep going.
With 16.5 km to go, Stewart and Van den Broek look at each other. Groves doesn’t wait for them and takes off towards victory! At the finish, Van den Broek (+54’’) and Eenkhoorn (+59’’) complete the top 3 while Grégoire has to settle for 5th on his home roads. The peloton cross the line with a gap of over 7 minutes. Jegat takes the 10th place in the overall standings from O’Connor.
