The most demanding stage of the entire race remained until the penultimate day, during which riders had to cover 5,450 meters in three horse climbs totaling 170.9 km to finish at the iconic Alpe d’Huez ski resort for the second time in two days.
American Kuss of Visma-Lease a Bike was part of a large early breakaway with riders pushing for the stage win and attacking alone with 25km to go.
The 31-year-old appeared to have found the strength that helped him win the Vuelta a España in 2023 and appeared determined to hold on to the slim lead ahead of victory.
But the often unflappable Kuss ended up on the side of the road and crashed as he exited a tunnel approaching the town of Alpe d’Huez.
He maintained the lead but soon crashed again on a right-hand bend due to the wrong line, his rear wheel skidding in the dust at the edge of the road before coming to a stop, half off his bike and supported by a safety net that prevented him from plummeting.
EF Education-Easypost’s tenacious Carapaz overtook Kuss to take the lead – the 2019 Giro d’Italia winner – eventually taking his second stage win in three days and also securing victory in the King of the Mountains event.
“(I) wasn’t really scared,” Kuss told TNT Sports afterward. “I was just annoyed because we were driving through it this morning and I looked at that corner and thought, ‘Ah, that’s a nice downhill corner, no problem in the race,’ so I went all in on it.
“The turn was a little more difficult than I expected. My wife doesn’t let me race my bike anymore – she always tells me not to take risks on the downhills, but you need to get a little adrenaline rush every now and then.”
Normally, on a stage like this in the French Alps, Pogacar would have to deliver another masterclass, but he held back to help Del Toro, who was at one point struggling on the Col du Galibier, defend his white jersey and third place overall against French sensation Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA-CGM.
The 19-year-old Seixas finally ran out of energy on the last mountain of the race and should finish fourth in the general classification, 11 minutes and 56 seconds behind Pogacar’s total time.
Briton Tom Pidcock of the Pinarello-Q36.5 finished the stage in 16th, nine minutes and three seconds back, and will finish ninth overall in the GC standings.
Dane Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek will win the green jersey in Paris on Sunday, simply finishing ahead of Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech by an elusive 82 points.