Jonas Vingegaard has put the hammer down on the Tour de France, extending his lead massively, with an awe-inspiring victory in the final mountain stage, as defending champion Tadej Pogacar's all-in strategy backfired.
Vingegaard went solo some four kilometres from the finish at Hautacam, after some massive work from his Jumbo-Visma teammates, Pogacar slowly disappearing from his rearview mirror and crossing the line in second, 1m 4s behind.
He now trails the Dane by 3m 26s before a flat 19th stage and the individual time trial.
The Slovenian threw everything - and the kitchen sink - at Vingegaard in the penultimate climb to the Col de Spandelles, also throwing caution to the wind in the descent on a gruelling 143.2km trek from Lourdes.
Pogacar crashed and Vingegaard also came close to hitting the deck, before the duo called a brief truce and the strongest climber prevailed, where compatriot Bjarne Riis produced one of the most astonishing climbing efforts ever seen on the Tour in 1996.
Riis later admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs to win that Tour and his name was taken off the list of champions by the organisers in 2007, but the International Cycling Union (UCI) added it again a year later, after ruling that the offence was prescribed.
Pogacar attacked some six kilometres from the top of the Col de Spandelles, but Vingegaard followed, barely getting out of the saddle in a spine-chilling show of power and control.
The Slovenian went for it again four more times on that climb, with Vingegaard always covering, and the duo whizzed past Geraint Thomas, who had gone solo earlier.
The 2018 champion again limited the damage, taking fourth place, 2m 54s off the pace, to all but ensure he would finish on the podium at Paris.
The Ineos-Grenadiers rider is eight minutes behind Vingegaard, but holds a comfortable 3m 05s lead over fourth-placed David Gaudu.
Unable to drop Vingegaard on the climb to the Col de Spandelles (10.3km at 8.3 percent gradient), Pogacar took all the risks in the descent.
In his slipstream, Vingegaard lost his balance on a bend, just managing to stay on the bike, but a few turns further down the road, Pogacar skidded off into the gravel on a left-hand turn, sustaining a few bruises in the process.
Vingegaard slowed down and called a truce, shaking hands with Pogacar, as both finished the descent in a more cautious fashion, allowing a five-man group, led by Thomas, to bridge the gap in Argeles Gazost, where French president Emmanuel Macron climbed into the car of race director Christian Prudhomme.
On the final climb (13.6km at 7.8 percent), Vingegaard's teammate, Sepp Kuss, set a blinding pace to drop Thomas.
Vingegaard, Kuss and Pogacar caught Wout Van Aert and Dani Martinez - the last survivors of the day's breakaway - and shortly afterwards, the yellow jersey holder made his move, with his main rival losing contact.
Vingegaard stuck the knife in for a resounding victory, with Van Aert, who had attacked from the gun, adding third place on the day.
Van Aert will win the green jersey for the points classification if he reaches Paris, while Vingegaard will also seal the polka-dot jersey for the mountain classification.
Reuters