Tour de France stage 19 LIVE: Result and standings as Tadej Pogacar pulls off stunning win in yellow jersey
Tadej Pogacar landed surely the winning blow to see off Jonas Vingegaard’s brave challenge with a fourth stage victory of this Tour de France
Tadej Pogacar all but sealed victory at the Tour de France 2024 with a stunning win on a brutally hard stage 19 route through the Alps.
Pogacar carefully tracked his nearest rival Jonas Vingegaard before launching a devastating attack on the final climb, where he reeled in the leader Matteo Jorgenson and stormed to a famous win in Isola.
The Slovenian increased his overall lead to more than five minutes as he took a fourth stage win at this year’s Tour, and he is now on the verge of a historic Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double.
Follow all the latest reaction from stage 19 of the Tour de France below.
Tadej Pogacar tightens grip on yellow jersey with stage 19 victory
Tadej Pogacar put on yet another dominant display of climbing ability as he won stage 19 of the Tour de France to stretch out his advantage in yellow and move closer to another slice of cycling history.
Pogacar attacked on the climb up to Isola 2000 to distance defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and break the heart of the Dane’s Visma-Lease A Bike team-mate Matteo Jorgenson, who was trying to win this brute of an Alpine stage out of the breakaway but saw a near three-minute advantage rapidly disappear.
Pogacar’s fourth stage win of this Tour saw his lead grow to five minutes and three seconds and it seems only some drastic misfortune over the final weekend can deny the 25-year-old a third Tour crown and stop him becoming the first man to complete the Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.
Peerless Tadej Pogacar tightens grip on yellow jersey with stage 19 victory
Pogacar is closing in on a Giro-Tour de France double
To come tomorrow...
Stage 20: Nice to Col de la Couillole (mountainous, 133km) | Saturday 20 July
It may be a little shorter at only 133km, but this is another brutally tough mountain stage featuring four climbs and another summit finish, atop the Col de la Couillole.
Tadej Pogacar speaks after a fourth stage win of this year’s Tour
“For the queen stage of the Tour de France, I’m super happy that I had good legs today. We were here training for a whole month between the Giro and Tour, it was not easy, but I knew this climb super well. We were talking already during the training camp about how we wanted to race today, and we did it perfectly.
“We were setting a good pace, thinking that Jonas might try on Bonette. I was a little bit empty in the last two kilometres after I caught Carapaz and Simon Yates, but when I saw Matteo Jorgenson losing a bit, I tried to push through. I tried to pass him with speed but I killed my legs, so I was worried he’d come back and beat me! Credit to the breakaway today, they were really strong.
“It’s looking better than ever. It’s quite a margin now, and tomorrow I can just enjoy the stage. We’ll let the breakaway go and try to enjoy the roads where I’ve trained for my whole career. Hopefully nothing serious happens.”
Tadej Pogacar seals stunning Stage 19 win to strengthen grip on yellow jersey
Richard Carapaz, by the way, took 64 points in the King of the Mountains competition today and will wear polka dots tomorrow. After a couple of big days out already this week, are his legs strong enough to get up the road tomorrow to keep Tadej Pogacar’s paws off it?
Tour de France: General Classification standings after Stage 19
And here is how that Tadej Pogacar masterclass has changed the general classification standings, with the Slovenian now more than five minutes clear.
Tour de France Stage 19 result
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 4:04:03
2. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma Lease-a-Bike) +0.21
3. Simon Yates (Jayco Alula) + 0.40
4. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +1.11
5. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) +1.42
6. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease-a-Bike) “
7. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) + 2.00
8. Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) “
9. Wilco Kelderman (Visma Lease-a-Bike) +2.52
10. Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech) +3.27
Tadej Pogacar seals stunning Stage 19 win to strengthen grip on yellow jersey
In roll Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard about a minute and 40 seconds down - the Dane slaps his rival’s hand in a gesture of appreciation at an excellent ride. But the pair are simply now in a lower league to the runaway race leader, who is re-writing the paradigms of cycling.
Tadej Pogacar seals stunning win to strengthen grip on yellow jersey
Scintillating stuff from Tadej Pogacar, surging to a fourth stage victory of this year’s Tour. He takes a bow as he crosses the line, picture perfect again in the high Alps. Barring incident or accident, he will surely complete a remarkable Giro d’Italia/Tour de France double on Sunday.
Tour de France stage 19: 1km to go
This is quite magnificent from Tadej Pogacar. He managed today perfectly, UAE setting the right tempo to prevent any early attacks on the Cime de la Bonette and then picking his moment to leave Jonas Vingegaard toiling. He’s a minute and a half ahead of the best of the rest, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel taking a few seconds as Pogacar begins to ease up into the final kilometre.
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