LA PLANCHE DES BELLES FILLES, France - In an incredible climax to the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar crushed fellow Slovenian rider Primoz Roglic in the last stage before the finish in Paris, snatching away the overall lead Saturday to all but guarantee that he'll win cycling's showpiece race in his first attempt.
Pogacar, who turns 22 on Monday, is set to become the event's youngest champion since World War II after flying on the penultimate stage, a lung-burning uphill time trial in which he devoured the 57-second lead that had made Roglic look impregnable before the showdown in the mountains of eastern France.
Equally amazing: This is Pogacar's first Tour. Among others who pulled off the feat of winning in their first attempt: the great Eddy Merckx of Belgium, who also won his next four Tours after his first in 1969. Given Pogacar's young age and breathtaking talent, his first also looks unlikely to be his last.
"Unbelievable, unbelievable," Pogacar said. "My head will explode."
In the end, it wasn't even close. Pogacar was sensational, not only ripping the iconic race leader's yellow jersey from Roglic but comfortably winning the time trial, too. He gobbled through the 22-plus miles, slicing through the air in an aerodynamic tuck on a slick time-trial bike and then switching to a road bike for the sharp finishing ascent to the Planches des Belles Filles ski station.
Roglic labored in comparison, looking taut where Pogacar glided fluidly. He, too, hopped onto a road bike for the climb, his with yellow tape on the handlebars to match the jersey he was in the process of losing.
As Roglic ascended, what was left of his lead melted away. It then became a yawning deficit to Pogacar, who had been second overall going into the time trial, which amply lived up to its nickname as "the race of truth." The 30-year-old Roglic managed no better than fifth, a whopping 1 minute, 56 seconds slower than his younger and clearly fresher countryman. At the top, he sat slumped on the tarmac, the enormity of his collapse sinking in.
"I will cry. Or I did, already," Roglic said. "I struggled with everything, eh? Just not enough power. I would want it to be a little different, but I cannot change it. It is how it is."
Not since British riders Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome finished 1-2 at the 2012 Tour has one nation taken the top two spots.
However, almost everyone - even Pogacar - had expected that Roglic would roll into Paris with the yellow jersey on his shoulders Sunday, sipping Champagne in the saddle on the processional ride on his way to becoming Slovenia's first winner. Roglic had taken the race lead in the ninth stage and held it all the way to Saturday, Stage 20, the worst day to lose it. He now trails Pogacar by 59 seconds overall.
"I cannot believe how hard it must be for him," Pogacar said. "He must be devastated. But that's bike racing."
AP photo by Thibault Camus /Tadej Pogacar competes Saturday in the 20th stage of the Tour de France, a time trial covering more than 22 miles from Lure to La Planche des Belles Filles. Pogacar won the stage in dominant fashion to essentially secure the overall race victory with only the largely ceremonial final ride into Paris to go.Only a major mishap Sunday - highly unlikely - will prevent Pogacar from taking over from 2019 winner Egan Bernal, who was 22, as the youngest champion in the era since WWII. So sure is his victory that he was already introduced at the race organizers' new conference Saturday evening as the Tour winner.
"I can't wait to cross the line in Paris," Pogacar said.
Australian cyclist Richie Porte will complete the podium after he time trialed brilliantly to hoist himself from fourth to third overall. Porte is a veteran of 10 Tours, but he had only once finished in the top 10 - fifth in 2016 - in a career sometimes dogged by ill fortune.
Aged 35, Porte wanted a picture of himself on the Tour podium before his career ends. He'll get that Sunday.
"It really does feel like a victory," he said.
He, too, said he felt for Roglic.
"It's kind of brutal what happened," he said.
The high drama was reminiscent of Frenchman Laurent Fignon's collapse in 1989. He had a lead of 50 seconds over Greg LeMond before the final stage, also a time trial, from Versailles to Paris. Fignon ended up losing to the American by just eight seconds - the smallest margin of victory in the race's history.
Pogacar, who finished third at last year's Vuelta a Espana won by Roglic, might have had an even bigger lead by now had he not suffered a major setback in the first week of the three-week marathon, raced over more than 2,100 miles and all five of France's mountain ranges.
In the seventh stage, Pogacar plummeted from third to 16th overall, when he was caught out in crosswinds. Then he shook off his disappointment and set about clawing his way back.
His win in the ninth stage ahead of Roglic in the Pyrenees soon followed and helped put him back in contention. In hindsight, Roglic may well rue that he and his Jumbo-Visma teammates didn't pay closer attention and allowed his friend and rival from the UAE Team Emirates squad so much slack.
Pogacar followed up with another victory in the 15th stage and had been in second place overall for the past week.
While Roglic was surrounded at the Tour by powerful support riders who labored tirelessly to protect his race lead, Pogacar had no such luxuries. Beating Roglic in the man-to-man time trial, the two of them alone against the clock, was a fitting tribute to the way in which Pogacar has often relied on his own formidable resources, the brightest prodigy in an exciting crop of young riders who lit up the Tour.
Even Roglic, at the finish, gave him a thumbs-up.
"He definitely deserves his win," he said. "Obviously, a really, really super-talented guy."