It's a mark of the great champions to raise their game when the challenges are at their toughest, and on a dauntingly technical and difficult final stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, Wout van Aert proved his star status is still fully justified with a spectacular solo victory over a rival of the calibre of Tadej Pogačar.

A fourth Tour de France title was all but won anyway, so finishing safely in the pack would do fine for Tadej Pogačar.

The battle for the podium, however, kept the Alps alive — as first Oscar Onley pulled himself back into contention on stage 18, before Florian Lipowitz showed impressive maturity to shed him one day ...