Tour de France 2025 live: Stage 20 route, latest updates and standings today on final chance for breakaway specialists

170km to go: Asgreen hits the 12.1km Col de la Croix de la Serra, which averages 4.1%, and he’s still alone.

Poor old Arnaud de Lie meanwhile is already in serious trouble 1’20” off his lead and nearly a minute down on the peloton.

The Van Aert group has been reeled in and now Foss has another go… and Healy has another go too but knocks it off quickly, with plenty of riders straight on him.

173km to go: EF tell Asgreen to keep going. The Dane is out in front, hammering on the pedals, and has a 36 seconds lead over the peloton.

His teammate Ben Healy was part of an attack, along with Jonas Abrahamsen, Mauro Schmid and Raul Garcia Pierna, but that didn’t seem to cooperate properly.

Now Wout van Aert hits the front, with Julian Alaphilippe and Tobias Foss right behind him. The trio get a gap, with an Arkea rider just behind them.

The road flattens out in the final seven kilometres or so, meaning that if enough sprinters have survived, we could be in for a reduced sprint of sorts.

With an unknown quantity on the horizon in Paris – the addition of several climbs of Montmartre potentially enough to bid adieu to the sprinters – their teams may have a fast finish in mind in Pontarlier, setting up what could be a frenzied final hour of racing.

184km of racing today and no doubt it’ll be frenetic – although the entire peloton is utterly shattered. Kasper Asgreen is the first to attack as Prudhomme waves his flag. Ineos and Tudor are up there too.

An unclassified rise out of Nantua leads swiftly onto the day’s first climb, the category-three Col de la Croix de la Serra, the longest of the day at 12.1km but a relatively forgiving 4.1%. That leads into the category-four Cote de Valfin (5.7km at 4.2%), with the intermediate sprint at Chaux du Dombief coming 72km into proceedings – an important landmark for Jonathan Milan, who will look to shore up his lead in the points classification.

The lumps and bumps continues, through the day’s punchiest, sharpest climb, the Cote de Thesy (3.6km at an average of 8.9%), with the final marked climb coming 20km from the finish at the Cote de Longeville (2.5km at 5.5%).

Stage 20 is almost underway… the riders are rolling out in Nantua, with 4.5km of neutralised parade before the official start.

One DNS today: Astana sprinter/lead-out man Yevgeniy Fedorov, who has abandoned the race with an intestinal infection.

This stage is one for both the puncheurs and rouleurs of the peloton, with the flatter finish favouring a powerhouse rider who can get over the climbs. Jonas Abrahamsen loves a breakaway and already has one victory to his name, on a similarly lumpy day out in Toulouse on stage 11.

From a British perspective, Fred Wright has been a constant in breakaways but hasn’t been able to hold on at the pointy end – but may fancy one last try tomorrow.

Kasper Asgreen is another breakaway artiste who excels on this sort of terrain, but with a second place alreaady to his name on stage 15, my bet is Victor Campenaerts.

He’s been Visma-Lease a Bike’s strongest domestique in the entire race, consistently outperforming out-and-out climbers in the Pyrenees and Alps, and my feeling is Visma will thank him by letting him go for a shot at glory of his own on the road to Pontarlier.

Sadly Oscar Onley’s valiant bid for third place on the podium took a hit, as he was distanced on La Plagne, while Florian Lipowitz took advantage by storming up the climb – towing Pogacar and Vingegaard behind him. But the Scot remains firmly in fourth overall, a phenomenal result in just his second Tour.

1. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) 67:06:43
2. Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) +1’03”
3. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +11’26”
4. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +16’53”
5. Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +1:49:09

Tadej Pogacar offered his verdict yesterday on a short but tough stage. UAE pushed a strong pace for the majority of it, and it looked like Pogacar was going for the stage win.

He said: “We did a really good job until the last climb. Then some teams, some riders, think they can sprint 19km of the climb. [He is likely referring to Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, who set a fierce pace for Felix Gall as he looked to take time on GC].

“The pace was incredibly high at the start. I was thinking maybe Jonas wanted to win a stage, but then he was just holding on to my wheel.

“Arensman went on a good attack. I decided not to follow, set my rhythm. A defensive rhythm that I feel comfortable with. And yeah, in the end, it was like this. I am just happy it’s over, and two more days to Paris.

“I had to pull the whole climb in the end. Of course I came quite tired to the finish line. But also, it was tough, the last three days for me. I’m happy that today is over. We go tomorrow.”

Here’s what Thymen Arensman had to say after his seismic win yesterday: “I’m absolutely destroyed. I can’t believe it. Already to win one stage in the tour – unbelievable. From the GC group against the strongest riders in the world… feels like I’m dreaming.

“I don’t take no for an answer. It’s Tadej [Pogacar] and Jonas [Vingegaard] – everyone knows they are the strongest in the world, almost aliens. As a human, I still want to beat them. I tried to not look behind and go as fast as I could and it was enough. It’s just crazy.”