Modane Valfrejus, France: Chris Froome is poised to win a second Tour de France title, after being pushed to the brink by Nairo Quintana to defend his race lead.
The 30-year-old Froome who was booed by the crowd in his final climb praised the impressive and loyal support of Australian teammate Richie Porte following Saturday's 110.5km 20th stage from Modane Valfrejus to the summit finish at l'Alpe d'Huez.
The British rider made special mention of Porte and Dutch teammate Wouter Poels for their work in the last two mountains – the Col de la Croix de Fer and the final 13.8km long ascent up the 21 switchbacks of l'Alpe d'Huez.
"They turned themselves out. They saved it for me," Froome, who is now set to add a second Tour title to his 2013 crown, said.
Froome will now lead the Tour in its 21st and final stage on Sunday, 109.5km from Sevres to the Champs Elysees in Paris with an overall lead of 1m 12s on Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and 5m 25s on Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)
While the stage was a hard and fast one and Froome showed signs that he was not at his best, it was on the final ascent of l'Alpe d'Huez that the real drama unfolded.
Froome had to dig deep to limit his time loss to Quintana who, placed second overall, set off on a solo attack to reel in as much of his 2m 38s overall deficit as possible.
Quintana didn't waste time on the 13.8km climb of l'Alpe d'Huez, to make his move. He made the first five attacks or surges one kilometre up the crowd lined climb.
Porte reeled Quintana in then, as did Poels on a second attack by the Colombian soon after. Quintana broke free when, in a third move he bridged across to join then drop Valverde in pursuit of Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) who was leading the stage.
For Porte and Poels, their task from there to the finish was to ride tempo in front of Froome so he could limit any time loss and hang on to the yellow leader's jersey.
Were it so simple because there were times when Froome clearly had difficulty in following his teammates' wheels; especially after Poels was done and Porte was the only teammate left to guide him to the finish at the right tempo to save his Tour.
As Porte guided Froome up the climb perfectly, Quintana closed in with every pedal stroke on the brave and dogged Pinot, chasing the stage victory and also the all important time bonuses of 10s, 6s and 4s for first second and third places respectively.
Eventually Thibaut hung on for a popular home win, while Quintana was second at 18s, followed by Canadian Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) in third at 41s.
In their trail were Valverde, fourth at 1m 38s, Froome, fifth at the same time, Frenchman Pierre Rolland (Europcar), sixth at 1m 41s, and Porte, seventh in 2m 11s.
"Its unbelievable, the emotions at the end … and my teammates who have invested so much into helping me," Froome told French TV soon after finishing the stage.
"[For] Richie Porte to have stayed there to the end … "What can I say? It's a dream.
"I knew I had 2m 38s to play with but at some moments it was hard to believe I'd hang on.
"It's harder to say if this was harder than 2013. Every day was flat out, very hard."
Porte, for whom this is his last Tour with Sky as he will join another as yet unannounced team to pursue his own leadership tilt in the Tour next year, said his ride and the outcome was the perfect way for him to finish up with the British squad.
"[On Friday] Chris came to my room and said just give me all you have got," Porte told Fairfax media and Cyclingnews.com.
"He is such a great mate and I am just happy to be able to finish it off on a high like this.
"Obviously the last three weeks have really taken atoll on him and truth be known I don't think he's been that healthy either. It's a testament to how hard he is mentally
"It's a little bit worrying that next year I will be taking him on, but I think our team has been absolutely fantastic in this race and everybody has done their job …
"It's nice to leave this team on a high. I have made some lifelong friends.
The day's laurels went to Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, who salvaged an under-par Tour with victory on the race's 'Queen stage'.
Spain's Alejandro Valverde is third 5:25 off the pace.
Quintana was second in the 110-km stage from Modane-Valfrejus, 18 seconds behind Pinot, with Canadian Ryder Hesjedal taking third place 41 seconds adrift.
Froome, who could not respond when Quintana attacked less than four kilometres into the 13.8-km ascent, ended the stage in fifth place, 1:38 off the pace after being helped to the summit by team mate Richie Porte.
Froome, who claimed his first Tour title in 2013, was once again booed by the crowd in the final climb.
He will become the first rider since Carlos Sastre in 2008 to win both the yellow and the polka dot jerseys -- although the Spaniard only claimed the mountain classification after Austrian Bernhard Kohl was stripped of the title following a retroactive dope test.
Froome, who had already lost 30 seconds to Quintana on Friday, spent another tough day in the saddle.
Frenchman Alexandre Geniez attacked from the start and broke away with three others but the FDJ rider went out on his own in the climb to the Col de la Croix de Fer.
Among the group of favourites, Valverde attacked about five kilometres from the top of the col de la Croix de Fer and was quickly followed by Quintana.
Helped by Porte, Froome managed to catch Quintana at the top and along with Valverde and Nibali, the four of them stayed together in the descent.
Pinot and Hesjedal then attacked and the Frenchman, who got help on the way from his FDJ team mate Geniez, powered to his second Tour stage win after claiming his first on his debut in 2012.
