Wout Van Aert rode this Tour de France with little thought of conserving energy and continued in the same vein on the road to Autacam on stage 18, attacking just as the peloton reached zero kilometers outside of Lourdes. Today was another day of bizarre feats of strength.

Less than four hours later, Van Aert was still in the lead. He led the remnants of the day's breakaway group over the Col de Spandel and down the final climb to Autaca. [Jonas Vingegaard, in the maillot jaune, bridged along with his Jumbo-Visma teammate Sepp Kuss and Taddei Pogachar, who was closest to him. Kuss was quickly shaken off and replaced by Van Art.

In a Tour that was so full of attacks and bounced back and forth between sprint wins and attacks from the gun, Van Aert's support was only symbolic. Instead, Van Aert performed a mile or so of mountain pacemaking that effectively sealed Vingegaard's Tour victory.

4.4 km from the summit, Pogachar finally realized that he could go no further. Somehow, Pogachar, who had won the Tour de France twice before, had been dropped on an uncategorized climb by the winner of these two group sprints.

Van Aert stayed on for another 500 meters or so, pulling Vingegaard away from Pogachar. Pogachar passed him again a little further up the climb, but Van Aert, on soft pedals, was fresh and pulling away from the rest of the field. Van Aert finished third, 2:10 behind Vingegaard, and took the Tour's green jersey.

"I wanted to take the time and I succeeded. I am also surprised that it was so smooth. In the end, I was able to completely separate myself for Jonas," Van Aert said in the mixed zone after the finish.

On Wednesday, Van Aert clinched the points prize, and Vingegaard, with a 3:26 lead over Pogachar, did nearly as well in the overall. On Sunday, Jumbo Visma will be the first team to ride into Paris in the yellow and green jerseys since Telekom with Jan Ullrich and Eric Zabel in 1997. Wingegaard's victory on the summit of Hautacam also earned him the polka-dot jersey.

"It was a really crazy day. I found out that if you focus on the mountain, you can be very strong in one day," VanArt said.

As in Tuesday's run to Foix, his job was to wait in front for Vingegaard to join him in the finale. This strategy was repeated in direct response to the UAE Team Emirates offensive on stage 17, when Pogachar and Brandon McNulty outpaced Vingegaard on the final climb to Peyragudo.

"It's good to see after yesterday that the UAE is still out there with big goals," Pogachar said. 'For me, that was a signal to give it my all today. I said to the team, 'We have one more day, we have six strong guys, we can do something together. And then me and Teasge went on a break, and we were in an ideal situation."

Van Aert and Benoot played the satellite role up front, while Sepp Kuss played the role of shepherd for Vingegaard in the back group. However, the herd was scattered on the col of Spandel as Pogachar went on the offensive on four occasions. Each time Vingegaard instantly tracked Pogachar, and Kuss bridged him three times; by the fourth time, the American was forced to concede, but by the time they reached Argeles Gazosto at the foot of the Autacam, they were back on the yellow jersey's side.

"I felt good, but I couldn't handle Pogachal's attack on the last climb," Cus told reporters after the finish, as they made their way back to Argeles Gazosto.

"I had a really fast pace all day, both on the climbs and the descents, but it all exploded on the second-to-last climb. Luckily I was able to come back with the help of Tiesj who was joining me on the break. Then on the last climb I tried to pull as long as I could. I knew I had Wout in front of me and that he would help Jonas."

Kuss probably did not expect Van Aert to deliver the decisive blow on the climb, but the American did his part in the softening up process by setting a brisk pace on the lower slopes of the Hautacam, leaving only Vingegaard and Pogachar on his wheel with 8km to go. role in the soft-up process.

Geraint Thomas (Ineos) had arguably the best run of his Grand Tour career over the past three weeks, but still conceded nearly three minutes to Vingegaard by the summit. It was a heavy defeat.

Kuss left Vingegaard in Van Aert's care and followed the last kilometer on the sound of his radio earpiece. Pogachar was probably at his limit after crashing on the descent of Spandale, but Vingegaard's dominance in this Tour was undisputed. It has been a dizzying four-year journey from the floor of a fish factory to the top of the podium on the Champs-Élysées.

"If you had asked me a few years ago if he could win the Tour, I would have said I didn't know. Jonas is extremely talented and his progress over the past few years has been unbelievable. He's so confident, he's become one of the best riders in the world, and I think he's going to win the Tour.

Vingegaard's quiet confidence was his key point in the yellow, and after neutralizing Pogachar's attacks over the past week or so, he went into Hautacam with the intention of doing more than following. Ultimately, Pogachar could no longer hold out.

"He may have been a little sore after the crash, but the plan was to go for the stage win with Jonas before the start," Van Aat said.

"The climbs were long and steep today. For Jonas, I think he did better today than he did yesterday.

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