Tadej Pogačar conquered the slopes of Isola 2000 to win stage 19 of the Tour de France and extend his overall lead to more than five minutes in the general classification.
The Slovenian simply rode away from his rivals with ease, before going on to swallow up the remnants of the day’s breakaway - including Matteo Jorgenson, Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz - on the way to taking his fourth stage win of the race.
Pogačar has now won 15 Tour stages in total and has ten Grand Tour stage victories this year alone.
Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel briefly tried to follow Pogačar’s acceleration when he pushed on from the group of favourites, but his attack largely went unanswered before he rode away in pursuit of Jorgenson at the head of the race.
Along with Wilco Kelderman, Visma-Lease a Bike placed Jorgenson in the breakaway at the start of the day. The Visma duo’s presence suggested that a potential Vingegaard attack was on the cards. But as the stage progressed, the attack never materialised with UAE Emirates dominating the peloton with the likes of Nils Politt and Pavel Sivakov before Adam Yates took over on the final climb to the finish.
Jorgenson valiantly held off Pogačar for as long as possible, but the two-time Tour winner eventually destroyed the American’s advantage with ease, closing the gap in no time at all.
Pogačar briefly glanced back before performing his now trademark celebratory bow as he crossed the finish line. Barring a major disaster, he now has victory in Nice on Sunday all but assured.
The UAE Team Emirates rider now leads Vingegaard by 5:03, with Evenepoel at 7:01 in third.
How it happened
Stage 19 of the Tour between Embrun and Isola 2000 had been billed as this year’s Queen Stage of the race. It featured three climbs above 2,000 metres of elevation, including the fearsome Cime de la Bonette.
As the stage got underway there were fireworks as the battle for the breakaway exploded. The first climb of the day, the Col du Vars, saw the race split all over the mountainside as Visma-Lease a Bike, the team of Jonas Vingegaard, attempted to stamp their authority on proceedings and ensure they had riders in any move that got up the road.
Eventually a nine man breakaway formed containing a mix of stage hunters and potential satellite riders. Stage 17 winner Richard Carapaz was present with the king of the mountains jersey in the back of his mind, as were Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Simon Yates (Jayco-AIUla).
Matteo Jorgenson and Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) were also both part of the move. As the breakaway began the Cime de la Bonette they had an advantage of more than four and a half minutes over the Nils Politt and UAE Team Emirates led peloton.
With 64 kilometres to go the breakaway's advantage had been cut down by almost a minute. Pavel Sivakov took over for UAE Emirates at the head of the peloton as the summit of the Bonette gradually approached.
Carapaz was the first man to crest the summit from the breakaway and took the maximum 40 points on offer in the king of the mountains competition which put him into the virtual lead. The breakaway’s advantage stood at three and a half minutes as they began the long descent.
With 21 kilometres to go the lead group’s advantage had risen back to more than four minutes as they sped towards the start of the final climb of the day to Isola 2000. UAE Emirates were still in control of the peloton with three riders lined out on the front ahead of the race leader, Tadej Pogačar.
Kelderman and Jorgenson led the break into the lower slopes of the final ascent as Hindley began to crack.
Looking to shake off Carapaz and Yates, Jorgenson attacked at the 13 kilometre mark and soon established an advantage of 30 seconds. Meanwhile further back down the mountain, Pogačar launched an acceleration from the yellow jersey group and instantly distanced both Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel as he looked to seal overall victory.
Pogačar made light work of the remnants of the day's breakaway, quickly passing Carapaz and Yates before eventually swallowing up Jorgenson. The Slovenian didn’t let up and went on to claim a fourth stage win of the race with ease.
Results
Tour de France 2024, stage 19: Embrun > Isola 2000 (144.6 km)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 04:04:03
2. Matteo Jorgenson (Usa) Visma-Lease a Bike, +21s
3. Simon Yates (Gbr) Jayco-AIUla, +40s
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:11
5. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:42
6. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
7. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +2:00
8. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal Quick-Step, at same time
9. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:52
10. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +3:27
General classification after stage 19
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 78:49:20
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +5:03
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +7:01
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +15:07
5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal-Quick Step, +15:34
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +17:36
7. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, +19:18
8. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +21:52
9. Matteo Jorgenson (Usa) Visma-Lease a Bike, +22:43
10. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +22:46
