Paris (AFP)

With Tadej Pogacar in yellow, Primoz Roglic in dolphin and the president in the stands, Slovenia will be in the spotlight on Sunday during the last stage of the Tour de France, which will start from Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines) to end at dusk on the Champs-Elysées.

The surprise triumph of Tadej Pogacar, who dominated the 20th stage, a 36 km time trial that ended on Saturday at the top of La Planche des Belles Filles, does not change the observation already established for several days: this Tour de France was above all a Slovenian tour de force.

With four stages (three for Pogacar, one for Roglic) and 12 days in yellow (11 for Roglic, only one, the most important, for Pogacar), the two riders were for three weeks the pride of this small European country. central and its 2 million inhabitants.

On Sunday, it is under the eyes of their president, Borut Pahor, that Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic will parade on the Champs-Elysées and under a setting sun, the arrival being expected around 7 p.m.

The gauge limiting the presence on the Fields to 5,000 spectators, the atmosphere will not be the same as in July 2019, when hundreds of Colombians had placed their flags along the barriers of the most beautiful avenue in the world to celebrate the coronation. by Egan Bernal.

- Isolated but heroic -

And, on the podium, the facial expressions will probably not be the same between Tadej Pogacar, often isolated in the mountains but heroic, and Primoz Roglic, whose Jumbo team has controlled the mountain stages so much that nothing seemed to happen to him. .

On Saturday, the evening of the life-saving time trial for the first and fatal for the second, the tones were already very different.

"My dream was to participate in the Tour de France and today, I won it," said Tadej Pogacar, only 21 years old.

"I was fighting against myself", admitted for his part, in a completely different state of mind, Primoz Roglic.

It must be said that, starting with a lead of 57 seconds over Pogacar, he probably did not expect to find himself in the situation that will be his at the start of the last stage, second at 59 seconds behind his young compatriot.

But the leader of Jumbo, 30, was nonetheless fair play vis-à-vis his nine-year-old junior: "Tadej was much better than me (...) He deserves his victory, congratulations to him".

In a press conference after his exploit on Saturday night, Pogacar also had a few words for Roglic, a fierce opponent for three weeks but to whom he is close in life: "I have enormous respect for him, he is a friend. J I feel sorry for him. He loses the yellow jersey after the last real stage, it's really hard. I imagine how he feels. "

- "Absolute dream" -

They will be accompanied on the podium by Richie Porte, who confided Saturday living "an absolute dream", him whose career has been marked by many disappointments.

The absolute dream, however, is Tadej Pogacar who will live it on Sunday, becoming except accident the youngest winner of the Tour since Henri Cornet in 1904.

He will have the opportunity to experience the intoxication of the podium several times: in addition to the yellow jersey, he will receive the white jersey of the best youngster, which he has had for a long time, and for the one, with polka dots, the best climber, which he recovered on Saturday thanks to his time to climb La Planche des Belles Filles.

While all eyes will be on him, Tadej Pogacar will undoubtedly cast his own towards the future: winner at 21 of the biggest race in the world, tomorrow belongs to him.

© 2020 AFP