Tour De France 2015: Stage 20 Winner, Highlights, Updated Standings and Schedule

Thibaut Pinot won Stage 20 of the 2015 Tour de France on Saturday, redeeming himself by finishing solo at the summit of the legendary Alpe d'Huez. The Frenchman may have disappointed in the general classification after a dreadful first week of racing, but a win on the Tour's most beloved climb more than makes up for it.

Nairo Quintana finished second and came close to bridging the gap to Chris Froome in the general classification, but barring a massive crash on Sunday, the Brit will win his second Tour in Paris. The Colombian will be left wondering what could have been, had he not lost significant time on the way to Neeltje Jans.

Here are the results from Stage 20:

Pos	Rider	Time
1	Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr	03:17:21
2	Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team	00:00:18
3	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team	00:00:41
4	Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team	00:01:38
5	Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky	00:01:38
6	Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar	00:01:41
7	Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky	00:02:11
8	Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team	00:02:32
9	Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky	00:02:50
10	Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Lampre-Merida	00:02:50

Fans flock toward Aple d'Huez and its legendary hairpins every time it's on the Tour de France schedule, and the sea of people crowding the narrow roads makes for some fantastic images every year.

Dutch Corner in particular is renowned for its rowdy fans, and hours before the peloton arrived, the sea of orange already looked impressive, via Alpe d'Huez's official Twitter account:

The Dutch fans reportedly pelted the Team Sky bus when it made its way to the finish, and cycling reporter Ned Boulting shared what he saw when he had a chance to inspect the bus:

As expected, the relatively short distance the riders would cover on Saturday resulted in plenty of early attacks. A group including Ryder Hesjedal, Ruben Plaza Molina and Pinot managed to pull away from the peloton, but it was Frenchman Alexandre Geniez who made the biggest impression of all.

Geniez eventually dropped his companions and made his way to the foot of Alpe d'Huez solo, giving the local fans plenty to cheer about.

Most fans were more interested in the battle for the yellow, however, and Movistar decided to make life hard for Froome as often as they could. Both Alejandro Valverde and Quintana launched several attacks, to the enjoyment of climbing-records.com's Mihai Cazacu:

The Movistar duo managed to put some distance between themselves and Froome, who was isolated for much of the climb, but the group came back together during the descent.

Team Sky regrouped during the flat stretch toward Alpe d'Huez, but the climb had barely started before Quintana struck again. The Colombian started the stage two minutes and 38 seconds behind Froome, and while he seemed unlikely to make up such a deficit, he had no choice but to attack early and often.

He attacked twice inside the opening kilometres, and twice he was pulled back relatively easy by Froome's top domestiques. Meanwhile, Pinot and Geniez were positioning themselves nicely for the stage win, via Eurosport's Felix Lowe:

At the front, Pinot and Hesjedal caught Geniez, with the Canadian in particular looking sharp. Behind them, Valverde managed to open up a gap before team-mate Quintana joined him, and together, the two Movistar men tried to put pressure on what was left of Team Sky.

British Eurosport wondered whether this tactic could actually work on Froome:

"

Froome in trouble? Quintana and Valverde putting in a monumental effort and gaining time on the yellow jrsy #TDF2015 https://t.co/dKsWkVw7uq

— British Eurosport (@EurosportUKTV) July 25, 2015"

Valverde set the pace for Quintana as long as he could before the Colombian launched another attack, finding compatriot Winner Anacona, who offered to do the same. Quintana wasn't gaining too much time on Froome, but by staying with Anacona, he could regain some of his strength before launching a final, massive attack.

Meanwhile, at the front, Pinot managed to drop Hesjedal, and the local fans went bananas. Just look at this image, courtesy of the Tour's official Twitter account:

Pinot, who started the Tour as France's best hope in the general classification, was clearly struggling to keep up the pace, and with Quintana launching his attack in the background, it turned into a one-on-one battle.

Froome also struggled in the background, as his shoulders started to weave more and more throughout the climb, but the leader in the general classification received excellent support from his team-mates and showed his toughness, holding the wheel of Richie Porte during the most crucial stage of the climb.

Team Sky acknowledged the huge efforts from both Porte and Wout Poels:

Quintana gave it everything he got, and to his credit, he came remarkably close to Froome in the general classification. But Team Sky tackled this stage beautifully, and barring a massive crash, Froome will celebrate his second Tour de France win on Sunday in Paris.

Pinot won the stage and took some valuable bonus seconds away from Quintana, who finished second. The Frenchman told reporters how proud he was to have won such a legendary stage, via Sky Sports' live blog of the stage: "It was a very hard stage but I am so happy to have written myself into history. I was under so much stress, I didn't know how far Quintana was behind me."

Here's a look at the latest standings:

Pos	Rider	Time
1	Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky	81:58:33
2	Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team	00:01:12
3	Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team	00:05:25
4	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team	00:08:36
5	Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo	00:09:48
6	Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo	00:10:47
7	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing	00:15:14
8	Mathias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling	00:15:39
9	Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale	00:16:00
10	Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar	00:17:30

Pos	Rider	Points
1	Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo	420
2	André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal	316
3	John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin	281
4	Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx - Quick-Step	192
5	Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky	139
6	Bryan Coquard (Fra) Team Europcar	122
7	Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr	113
8	Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team	103
9	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal	90
10	Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Lampre-Merida	86

Pos	Rider	Points
1	Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky	119
2	Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team	108
3	Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale	90
4	Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr	82
5	Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha	78
6	Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar	74
7	Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team	72
8	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team	64
9	Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky	58
10	Serge Pauwels (Bel) MTN - Qhubeka	55

Sunday's stage toward Paris shouldn't yield any major surprises, with all major classifications pretty much decided. Peter Sagan will win the green jersey by finishing, regardless of the result of the likely bunch sprint, and unless something catastrophic happens, Froome will stay in yellow.

Don't expect to see any high drama during Stage 21. The peloton will keep a relatively high pace to reel in any early attacks, Froome and Sagan will pose for the photographers with a glass of champagne and after several laps of the Champs-Elysees, the top sprinters will face off one last time. Can Sagan finally win his first stage of the Tour? Perhaps, if he goes easy on the champagne. 

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