Tadej Pogacar is three days away from a fourth Tour de France title - but admitted he was fed up with the three-week race

The 19th stage of the Tour de France has been shortened after cows infected by a contagious disease were culled in an area along the mountainous route.

Stage 18 to the Col de la Loze was supposed to be the day for Jonas Vingegaard. On the Madeleine, the riders of Visma | Lease a Bike gave everything they had, but - captain hindsight- they may have burned the best legs of their own team leader.

Ben O'Connor stormed to a sensational victory in Stage 18 of the Tour de France on Thursday, as Jonas Vingegaard's attempt to dethrone Tadej Pogacar imploded in spectacular fashion on the race's most brutal Alpine battleground.

Tadej Pogacar edged closer to a fourth Tour de France title by gaining more time on rival Jonas Vingegaard on the punishing queen stage, which was won by Ben O’Connor. Britain's Oscar Onley moved within 22 seconds of a podium finish.

Jonas Vingegaard remains adamant that he is still in with a chance of beating Tour de France leader Tadej Pogačar despite losing a further nine seconds to the UAE Team Emirates-XRG racer in the closing metres of the brutally difficult Col de la Loze ascent on stage 18 on Thursday.

Jonas Vingegaard hit the deck after the finish of the 16th stage of the Tour de France when he was jostled by a photographer on the top of Mont Ventoux, the two-time Tour de France champion said on Tuesday.

In Denmark, fans were hoping on Thursday for a big comeback from Jonas Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike against Tadej Pogacar, but it didn’t happen. On both the Madeleine and La Loze climbs, the yellow jersey wearer didn’t flinch,