Kaden Groves has claimed his maiden Tour de France victory with a stunning late solo attack from 16 kilometres out on a 184.2km hilly stage 20 from Nantua to Pontarlier.
The Australian, who has already won stages at the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, burst into tears after crossing the line, overwhelmed at claiming the victory.
"There's so much pressure at the Tour," Groves said at the finish.
"Having won in the Giro, having won in the Vuelta, all I'm asked is whether I'm good enough to win at the Tour.
"And now I've shown them."
Normally a sprinter and used to winning in a bunch sprint, this was the Queenslander's first professional victory in this fashion.
Fellow Aussie Harry Sweeny had attempted his own solo attack, opening a gap of 40 seconds before being reeled in by a select group at the front of the race.
With 24km to go, as rain fell heavily on the riders, Romain Grégoire and Iván Romeo both fell heavily on a wet descent attempting to put their fellow escapees under pressure.
That split the lead group and, with 16km remaining, Groves took the initiative and broke away solo.
He is the third different stage winner from Alpecin-Deceuninck and the 114th rider to win a stage at all three grand tours, with seven stage wins at the Vuelta and two at the Giro to go with his maiden Tour victory.
Race leader Tadej Pogacar finished safely in the peloton, having sealed his third King of the Mountains classification prize.
Pogacar, with a lead of 4:24 over Jonas Vingegaard, will now likely seal a fourth Tour de France crown in Paris on Sunday, baring a complete catastrophe.
"I am more or less sure of my overall victory, but I still don"t want to say anything about it," Pogacar said.
"I want to stay focused until I have crossed the finish line in Paris.
"That's one of the most beautiful parts of this sport. We are 180 guys who spend weeks riding in the mountains and in the end, all of a sudden, we come to the streets of one of the biggest cities in the world."
Sweeny won the combativity award for his work in the breakaway, however it was bad news for winner of stage 18 Ben O'Connor, who lost ground on Jordan Jegat to fall out of the top 10.
Groves finished 54 seconds ahead of Dutchman Frank van den Broek.
"There are so many emotions to win here," Groves said.
"The team, we came here with so many plans with Jasper and Mathieu.
"In the end, I get my own opportunities and they haven’t gone the right way.
"Today I had super legs. I just suffered to the line and as a reward we get a Tour stage."
Groves started the race as lead-out man for stage one winner Jasper Phillipsen, before he crashed out on stage three.
Then, Mathieu van der Poel, who won on stage two, withdrew ahead of the final week after being diagnosed with pneumonia.
Sunday's final stage is a 132.3 km ride into Paris, where the traditional finish on the Champs-Élysées has been spiced up with three climbs of the Montmartre climb, which was featured in the 2024 Paris Olympics and saw an estimated half a million spectators flood the roadside.
Expected rain in Paris on Sunday has raised concerns over how the peloton, much larger than the field in the Olympic road race, will tackle the trio of cobbled climbs.
