Pogacar moves closer to a 3rd Tour de France title after dominant win in the mountains

Tadej Pogacar took a giant step closer to clinching a third Tour de France title after winning another tough mountain stage on Friday, pulling away from Jonas Vingegaard to move five minutes ahead of his main rival with two days left.

The Slovenian looks almost certain to reclaim the Tour crown from Vingegaard, the two-time defending champion from Denmark, who is 5 minutes, 3 seconds behind him. Tour debutant Remco Evenepoel of Belgium is 7:01 adrift in third place.

Pogacar attacked with about 9 kilometers (6 miles) left on the final climb of 16 kilometers (10 miles) to the Isola 2000 ski resort. Vingegaard could not follow as Pogacar chased after the Dane's Jumbo Visma teammate, Matteo Jorgenson. The American rider was alone in front with Richard Carapaz and Simon Yates just behind him.

Carapaz and Yates were caught by Pogacar, leaving just Jorgenson ahead. But he was also overtaken with two kilometers left as Pogacar soared to his fourth stage win at this year's race — holding up four fingers to the fans — and 15th Tour stage victory of his career.

After four hours in the saddle, Pogacar looked behind him one last time but none of his rivals were visible.

He raised both hands in the air as he crossed the line, with Jorgensen finishing 21 seconds behind and Yates 40 seconds back in third. Carapaz was 1:11 back in fourth spot.

Evenepoel placed fifth ahead of a disconsolate Vingegaard, with both riders timed at 1:42 behind Pogacar.

Saturday's 20th and penultimate stage stays in the southern Alps and features three hard category 1 ascents, the last taking the riders up Col de la Couillole.

The Tour ends Sunday on the French Riviera with a time trail from Monaco to Nice, and not in Paris as it usually does because of the Olympic Games.

Friday’s high-altitude stage may have been Vingegaard’s last chance to take significant time back from Pogacar.

Two of Vingegaard’s Visma teammates — Jorgensen and Dutchman Wilko Kelderman — positioned themselves at the front of a small breakaway and set a strong pace in hot conditions.

The 145-kilometer (90-mile) trek featured two huge climbs known as “hors categorie” (beyond category).

The first came early in the stage, up Col de Vars, and the second just after halfway through: to Cime de la Bonette, France’s highest road at an altitude of 2,802 meters.

Despite having two riders at the front, Vingegaard did not attack Pogacar.

After a long descent, there was another hard grind to Isola 2000. Vingegaard could not catch Pogacar and, instead, found himself under pressure from Evenepoel, who just beat him in a sprint to the line.

It was a day to forget for Vingegaard, and another one to savor for Pogacar.

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Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates after crossing the finish line to win the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 144.6 kilometers (89.9 miles) with start in Embrun and finish in Isola 2000, France, Friday, July 19, 2024. (Stephane Mahe/Pool Photo via AP)

Stage winner Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, bows when crossing the finish line of the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 144.6 kilometers (89.9 miles) with start in Embrun and finish in Isola 2000, France, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, flashes four finger for his fourth stage win during the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 144.6 kilometers (89.9 miles) with start in Embrun and finish in Isola 2000, France, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Stage winner Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, turns back to see if he has enough lead as he approaches the finish line of the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 144.6 kilometers (89.9 miles) with start in Embrun and finish in Isola 2000, France, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the best climber's dotted jersey, follows Britain's Geraint Thomas, second right, and Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski, right, as they ride in the pack with Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, during the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 144.6 kilometers (89.9 miles) with start in Embrun and finish in Isola 2000, France, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, rides with Spain's Mikel Landa, right, as they climb Cime de la Bonette pass, the highest road in Europe with an altitude of 2802 meters, during the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 144.6 kilometers (89.9 miles) with start in Embrun and finish in Isola 2000, France, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 144.6 kilometers (89.9 miles) with start in Embrun and finish in Isola 2000, France, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

PHOENIX (AP) — Nearly 100,000 voters who haven't submitted citizenship documents might be prevented from participating in Arizona's state and local elections, a significant number for the battleground state where races have been tight.

The announcement Tuesday of an error in state-run databases that reclassified voters comes just four days before county election officials are required to mail ballots to uniformed and overseas voters.

Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said the error was resolved Tuesday morning, but the voter status of those caught up in it hasn't. Fontes and Stephen Richer, the Republican recorder for Maricopa County, disagree over whether the voters should have access to the full ballot or the ability to vote only in federal races.

Richer filed a special action Tuesday asking the state Supreme Court to settle the question.

“It is my position that these registrants have not satisfied Arizona’s documented proof of citizenship law, and therefore can only vote a ‘FED ONLY’ ballot,” Richer wrote on the social platform X.

Arizona is unique among states in that it requires voters to prove their citizenship to participate in local and state races. Those who haven’t but have sworn to it under the penalty of law are allowed to participate only in federal elections.

Arizona considers drivers’ licenses issued after October 1996 to be valid proof of citizenship. However, a system coding error marked more than 97,500 voters who obtained licenses before 1996 — roughly 2.5% of all registered voters — as full-ballot voters, state officials said.

While the error between the state’s voter registration database and the Motor Vehicle Division won’t impact the presidential race, that number of voters could tip the scales in hotly contested races in the state Legislature where Republicans have a slim majority in both chambers.

It also could affect ballot measures, including the constitutional right to abortion and criminalizing noncitizens for entering Arizona through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry.

Richer said his office discovered earlier this month that someone was classified as both a noncitizen and a full-ballot voter — in violation of state law. The person registered to vote in 2022 but has not cast a ballot in Arizona elections, Richer said.

The discrepancy led to a larger systemic issue with state databases, according to the court filing.

Fontes said the roughly 97,500 voters who were reclassified because of the error — more than half in Maricopa County — are longtime Arizonans and mostly Republicans who should be able to fully participate in the general election.

“This was discovered not because somebody was voting illegally and not because somebody was attempting to vote illegally as far as we can tell,” Fontes said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. “And this was basic voter roll maintenance and it showed us that there is this issue.”

Richer said Fontes ignored state law by advising county election officials to let affected voters cast full ballots. Fontes said not allowing the voters who believed they had satisfied voting requirements access to the full ballot raises equal protection and due process concerns.

“I am unwilling to disenfranchise this many voters by limiting them suddenly, and with little notice, to a federal only ballot when none of them had notice of or blame for this issue,” Fontes wrote in a letter to county recorders.

Fontes said elections officials eventually will contact the voters but not until the high court settles their status. He said his office would set up an electronic portal where voters can submit citizenship documents, if needed.

Fontes and Richer agreed that the voters would be required to prove they are U.S. citizens to participate in state and local elections after the 2024 general election.

FILE - A voter casts their ballot at a secure ballot drop box at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

FILE - Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer speaks during a voting records trial Sept. 21, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool, File)

FILE - Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 27, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, File)