Tadej Pogacar continued his fairytale Tour de France with a fifth stage win to further extend his dominant lead with just one day remaining.
The Slovenian, riding for UAE Team Emirates, sprinted away from defending champion Jonas Vingegaard inside the final 500 metres on the Col de la Couillole.
The two-time winner extended his advantage over the Visma–Lease a Bike rider by seven seconds and now leads the general classification by five minutes and 14 seconds.
Pogacar has become the first rider to win five stages at a single Tour de France since German sprinter Marcel Kittel in 2017.
Sunday’s time trial in Nice is the final stage of this year’s tour, and Pogacar is likely to put even more time into his rivals.
Richard Carapaz crossed the line in third, having already collected enough points to secure the King of the Mountains jersey earlier in the stage.
Green jersey holder Biniam Girmay safely finished inside the time cut and is set to become the first black African to win the tour’s points classification, boasting an unassailable lead over his rival sprinters.
Britain’s Mark Cavendish, who is racing in his last Tour de France and also beat the cut, crossed the line in tears supported by three team-mates.