2026 Tour de France: American Sepp Kuss nearly crashes off mountain, Richard Carapaz wins Stage 20 as Tadej Pogačar eyes 3rd consecutive trophy
The 2026 Tour de France completed its second-to-last stage on Saturday, and Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar is in position to win the race for the third consecutive year.
But Stage 20 also provided some unfortunate moments for American cyclist Sepp Kuss, who crashed twice during Saturday's competition. The second of those two crashes was particularly harrowing. Making a tight turn, Kuss nearly went over the road barrier and would have fallen down the side of the mountain if not for a protective fence catching him.
Sepp Kuss crashed twice in the final kilometres. Once in the tunnel and then this crash, which cost him the lead. Richard Carapaz now in front. #TDF2026https://t.co/cBbfZdpUGjpic.twitter.com/vFyml1bisk
— René Bugner (@RNBWCV) July 25, 2026
At the time of his first crash, Kuss was in the lead and merely a few miles away from winning the stage, He collided with a wall outside a tunnel, yet managed to recover quickly enough to maintain his lead.
The second crash set Kuss back further. Despite avoiding what could have been a fatal accident, he recovered yet again. However, he lost enough time behind Ecuadorian cyclist Richard Carapaz to finish third in the stage, 31 seconds behind Carapaz and five behind Belgium's Remco Evenepoel.
Had Kuss finished first on Saturday, he would have been the first American to win a stage in five years. Kuss was actually the last U.S. cyclist to win a stage, finishing first in Stage 15 in 2021 riding from Céret to Andorra la Vella.
Evenepoel is second in the overall standings going into Sunday's final stage, nearly seven minutes back from Pogačar for the lead.
Here are the overall standings going into Sunday's final stage of the Tour de France:
Tadej Pogačar, Slovenia: 72 hours, 53 minutes, 44 seconds
Remco Evenepoel, Belgium: 73:00.10 (6 minutes, 26 seconds behind)
Isaac Del Toro, Mexico: 73:03.26 (9 minutes, 42 seconds)
Paul Seixas, France: 73:05.40 (11 minutes, 56 seconds)
Lenny Martinez, France: 73:06.46 (13 minutes, 2 seconds)
Mattias Skjelmose, Denmark: 73:08:43 (14 minutes, 59 seconds)
Juan Ayuso, Spain: 73:11.32 (17 minutes, 48 seconds)
Richard Carapaz, Ecuador: 73:13.44 (20 minutes, 0 seconds)
Tom Pidcock, Great Britain: 73:23.12 (29 minutes, 28 seconds)
Jordan Jegat, France: 73:27.05 (33 minutes, 21 seconds)
