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2020.09.21 14:44 GMT+8

Splendid moments that defined the coronavirus-disrupted Tour de France 2020

Updated 2020.09.21 16:18 GMT+8

Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates wins the 107th Tour de France in Paris, France, September 20, 2020. /CFP

Tadej Pogacar wins Stage 9, a 153km mountain ride from Pau to Laruns in France, September 6, 2020. /CFP

Tadej Pogacar wins Stage 15, a 174.5km mountain ride from Lyon to Grand Colombier in France, September 13, 2020. /CFP

Tadej Pogacar wins Stage 20, a 36.2km individual time-trial from Lure to La Planche des Belles Filles in France, September 19, 2020. /CFP

Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates, who celebrated his 22nd birthday on September 21, became the first champion from Slovenia and the youngest Tour de France winner since 1904 on Sunday in Paris.

Throughout the pandemic-hit cycling race, which began on August 29, Pogacar won four stages, two mountain rides in the 9th and 15th stages, an individual time trial in the 20th and the final flat ride in the 21st. 

Here are selected photos – including Pogacar and other stage winners, landscapes and health and safety measures against COVID-19 – to help you review the 107th Tour de France. 

Alexander Kristoff of Norway and UAE Team Emirates wins the Tour de France's first stage, a 156km flat ride from Moyen Pays to Nice on August 29, 2020. /CFP

Team Lotto's Australian rider Caleb Ewan wins the third and 11th stages, both flat rides, during the Tour de France 2020. /CFP

Wout van Aert (yellow jersey) of Belgium and Team Jumbo Visma wins the fifth and seventh stages, both flat rides during the Tour de France 2020. /CFP

Team Sunweb's Danish cyclist Soren Kragh Andersen wins the 14th and 19th stages, both flat rides, during the Tour de France 2020. /CFP

Nans Peters of France and Team Ag2R-La Mondiale wins the Tour de France's Stage 8, a 141km mountain ride from Cazères-Sur-Garonne to Loudenvielle in France, September 5, 2020. /CFP

Team EF Pro Cycling's Colombian rider Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda celebrates with a heart gesture after winning the Tour de France's Stage 13, a 191km mountain ride from Chatel-Guyon to Cantal in France, September 11, 2020. /CFP

Michal Kwiatkowski (R) of Poland and Team Ineos celebrates with his teammate Richard Carapaz of Ecuador after winning the Tour de France's Stage 18, a 175km mountain ride from Meribel to La Roche sur Foron in France, September 17, 2020. /CFP

The French Air Force's aerobatics demonstration unit "Patrouille de France" (PAF) performs as the pack rides on the Champs-Elysees avenue with the Arc de Triomphe in the background during the 21st and last stage of the Tour de France, in Paris, September 20, 2020. /CFP

Stage winners

Fifteen riders became stage winners.

Besides the overall leader Pogacar, cyclists such as Caleb Ewan, Wout van Aert and Soren Kragh Andersen conquered multiple stages – all of them flat rides.

Other riders, such as Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland, mainly dominated the mountain and hilly stages.

Cyclists hang under the Grenoble Bastille cable cars during Stage 17, a 175km mountain ride between Grenoble and Meribel in France, September 16, 2020. /CFP

Amazing landscapes along the route of Tour de France 2020

Click here to view more landscapes along the route

From Nice to Paris, this year's race course never left French territory.

The Tour had a total of 21 stages plus two rest days between traveling through the nation's six regions and 32 departments. It included nine flat stages, three hilly stages, eight mountain stages and one individual time-trial.

The longest journey was Stage 12, a 218-kilometer hilly ride from Chauvigny to Sarran Corrèze on September 10.

The shortest one was the 36.2-kilometer individual time-trial in the 20th stage on September 19.

People try look over the barriers as riders arrive prior to the start of the first stage in Nice, France, August 29, 2020. /CFP

A giant teddy bear during Stage 4 in Orcieres, France, September 1, 2020. /CFP

A horse rider follows the pack during Stage 11, a 166.5km flat ride from Chatelaillon-Plage to Poitiers, France, September 9, 2020. /CFP

A man drives a classic car beside the peloton during Stage 12 in Sarran Correze, France, September 10, 2020. /CFP

Fans cheer for the riders on a crane during Stage 14, September 12, 2020. /CFP

Spectators clap to encourage Team Ag2R's French rider Benoit Cosnefroy during Stage 17 in Méribel, France, September 16, 2020. /CFP

Spectators

Spectators always found a way to watch the race, even though the Tour de France had been forced to limit the number of spectators amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A masked statue next to the Tour de France logo in the French Riviera city of Nice, August 26, 2020. /CFP

Passengers wearing masks watch a parade during the Tour de France, August 31, 2020. /CFP

Tour de France spectators are given hand sanitizer in Sisteron, France, August 31, 2020. /CFP

Organizers allowed up to 5,000 spectators at the final stage in Paris, September 20, 2020. /CFP

Staging the cycling race amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Teams would be expelled from the Tour de France if at least two members, including staff, tested positive for the coronavirus, organizers said on August 26.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) on August 28 proposed that such an exclusion from the race would apply only to the riders.

In the final stage, no more than 5,000 spectators were allowed in the event.

A bike, painted with the Tour de France's symbolic yellow color, is seen hanging alongside mini-jerseys in Stage 13 in Cantal, France, September 11, 2020. /CFP

A polka dotted mountain bike is shown in Col de la Loze, a mountain pass in the French Alps with an altitude of 2,304 meters, in Stage 17, September 16, 2020. /CFP

A giant bicycle with a yellow frame stands alongside the course in Stage 12, September 10, 2020. /CFP

Decorations in the form of bikes and made from recycled materials are shown in Stage 19, in Champagnole, France, September 18, 2020. /CFP

Bicycles

On and off the course, bicycles were a theme along the race route, as various bike-related projects decorated the countryside.

Read more: 

Amazing landscapes along the 2020 Tour de France route

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