Tadej Pogacar won stage 15 of the Tour de France to slightly cut Primoz Roglic’s lead as defending champion Egan Bernal dropped out of contention.
Pogacar beat yellow jersey Roglic in a sprint to the line and now trails his fellow Slovenian by 40 seconds.
Bernal cracked badly on the final climb to Grand Colombier and lost over seven minutes to slip from third to 13th overall.
Britain’s Adam Yates moved up to fifth in the general classification.
Roglic was expertly delivered to the finish after another supreme display by his Jumbo-Visma team but Pogacar again showed he will attempt to reduce the deficit at every opportunity.
The 21-year-old UAE Team Emirates rider kicked clear late on to take his second stage win of the Tour and 10 bonus seconds, with Roglic second and Richie Porte in third.
“Jumbo-Visma set a really high pace all day and it made it a really difficult stage so I was just waiting for the sprint at the end and I’m so happy to win again,” said Pogacar.
“The plan is to win the Tour de France. Primoz Roglic seems unstoppable but today Bernal cracked and maybe one day myself or Primoz will crack – there are still a lot of opportunities ahead.”
After a rest day on Monday, the race resumes with a rolling 164km route from La Tour-du-Pin to Villard-de-Lans on Tuesday.
Stage 15 result
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) 4hrs 34mins 13secs
2. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) Same time
3. Richie Porte (Aus/Trek-Segafredo) +5secs
4. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana) +8secs
5. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +15secs
6. Sepp Kuss (US/Jumbo-Visma) Same time
7. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain McLaren)
8. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott)
9. Rigoberto Uran (Col/EF Pro Cycling) +18secs
10. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +24secs
General classification after stage 15
1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) 65hrs 37mins 07secs
2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +40secs
3. Rigoberto Uran (Col/EF Pro Cycling) +1mins 34secs
4. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana) +1mins 45secs
5. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +2mins 03secs
6. Richie Porte (Aus/Trek-Segafredo) +2mins 13secs
7. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain McLaren) +2mins 16secs
8. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +3mins 15secs
9. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea-Samsic) +5mins 08secs
10. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Jumbo-Visma) +5mins 12secs
