Vingegaard wins stage to all but clinch Tour title after Tadej Pogacar crash drama

Chris Froome was ruled out of the rest of the race after testing positive for Covid. 

GREAT DANE: Stage winner Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates as he crosses the finish line today.

Jonas Vingegaard won stage 18 of the Tour de France in the yellow jersey to take a potentially decisive step towards sealing his first overall title.

Tadej Pogacar, who had shook hands with the Dane when he waited for him after a crash on the descent of the Col de Spandelles earlier in the day, was left behind with four kilometres left of the climb of the Hautacam as Vingegaard won by a minute from the Slovenian.

It was Vingegaard's second stage win of the race, having taken yellow with victory on the Col du Granon on stage 11 when Pogacar suffered his first crisis.

The Jumbo-Visma rider now leads by more than three minutes, with Saturday's 41km time trial expected to be the final chance to create any significant time gaps.

The final mountain stage of this race delivered scenes which will go down in Tour history.

Pogacar had tried to attack on the descent of the Spandelles, and had Vingegaard under pressure when the Dane almost lost control on a left-hander, pulling one foot out of his pedal before rebalancing.

But a few corners later Pogacar ran wide, off the tarmac, and took a tumble in the gravel.

Vingegaard opted not to take advantage, waiting for his rival to ride back and accepting a shake of the hand which may well come to represent Pogacar's concession in the fight for yellow.

Chris Froome is out of the Tour de France after testing positive for Covid-19, meanwhile, and has immediately set his sights on racing the Vuelta a Espana later this season.

Froome, who achieved his best result since his devastating crash in 2019 when he finished third on stage 12 to Alpe d'Huez last week, was one of three riders not to start Thursday's stage 18 of the Tour due to positive tests for the virus, with Imanol Erviti and Damiano Caruso also out.

"I'm really disappointed not to be able to roll into Paris and finish off this Tour de France," Froome said in a video message. "It's been an extremely special race for us as a team and for me personally as well as I've been finding my legs again.

"I want to thank everyone for all the support through this process. I'm going to head home now, switch off for a few days and refocus on being ready for the Vuelta a Espana later this season."