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 celebrates after victory on stage 19 (AP)

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.

Tour de France – stage 19

• Tadej Pogacar claims stunning Stage 19 win to extend advantage over Jonas Vingegaard
• 8km to go: Tadej Pogacar cracks Jonas Vingegaard and chases stage win
• 12km to go: Matteo Jorgenson surges away at the front
• 60km to go: Six-rider break leads shrinking yellow-jersey group over second climb
• 120km to go: Early breakaway forms on first climb of the day

[19 July 2024 11:55 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Stage 19 preview: Tadej Pogacar ready to attack monstrous Alpine route

The Cime de la Bonette would be quite a place to make a statement, and Tadej Pogacar may choose to do just that. Pogacar doesn’t need to attack, of course. He leads Jonas Vingegaard by three minutes and any sensible rider would sit on Vingegaard’s wheel all the way to Nice and lock up victory by not losing touch.

But that is not Pogacar, and nor is it in Vingegaard’s nature to simply give up, so expect fireworks even though this race is all but done. Vingegaard may bravely try something if he’s feeling up to it, and Pogacar will almost certainly respond with gusto. He will see this as an opportunity to add to his tally of 14 stage wins, and the breakaway which will likely assemble early in the day will need a sizeable advantage at the foot of the Bonette in order to stave off the advancing yellow jersey.

If it isn’t to be Pogacar’s day then it will require some strong climbing legs in the breakaway – riders like Richard Carapaz and Romain Bardet already have stage wins this year and will eye this type of route, while Britain’s Simon Yates has looked promising on hard days. Spain’s Enric Mas and Australia’s Jai Hindley are two more to watch if they make the break.

Stage 19 profile (Letour)

[19 July 2024 11:38 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France – stage 19 begins!

And they’re off! Immediately, 20 riders race up the road trying to get in the early breakaway. Tadej Pogacar’s domestique, Marc Soler, is quickly to the front of the peloton to head off the attack. It looks like UAE Emirates want to give Pogacar every chance of winning this stage if they can control it.

[19 July 2024 11:25 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Stage 19 preview: Tadej Pogacar ready to attack monstrous Alpine route

There have been some hard and horrible days in this year’s Tour de France, like stage nine’s chaos on gravel and the gruelling Col du Tourmalet on stage 14, but this race has saved the hardest and highest roads until the end.

After yesterday’s emotional win for Victor Campenaerts, stage 19 is a brute: three monstrous Alpine climbs, back to back, with a summit finish at the mountain resort of Isola. The middle climb of the trio is the giant Cime de la Bonette (22.9km at 6.9%), the highest paved road in France at 2,802m.

Stage 19 map (Letour)

[19 July 2024 11:12 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Yesterday: Pogacar maintains three-minute lead

The moment the yellow jersey group rolled over the line, 13 and a half minutes after Campenaerts:

💛 The Yellow Jersey group arrives 13'40" after the stage winner.

💛 Le groupe Maillot Jaune arrive 13'40" après la tête de course. #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/M8Mjc9r1rY

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 18, 2024

[19 July 2024 10:59 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Yesterday: Pogacar maintains three-minute lead

Pogacar continues to lead by three minutes and 11 seconds from defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, with Remco Evenepoel just under two minutes further back in third place.

The main peloton rolled over the line some 13 and a half minutes later with Pogacar for once resisting the urge to attack his rivals, instead keeping his powder dry for a monster Alpine stage today which will take on the Cime de la Bonette, the highest paved road in Europe at an elevation of 2,802 metres.

[19 July 2024 10:52 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Yesterday: Campenaerts celebrates emotional maiden stage win

Struggling to speak through his emotions, the 32-year-old Campenaerts said: “The support I have from my girlfriend is incredible.

“She’s always there for me, nine weeks on an altitude camp, she was highly pregnant, she gave birth to our son at the bottom of a climb in Granada. She is the hero in this story.”

Campenaerts spoke about the “very difficult time” he has been through since the end of the Classics campaign, believing he had a contract extension agreed with Lotto-Dstny before talks abruptly stopped. He is now expected to join Visma-Lease A Bike next season.

“I was ignored (by the team) for a long time, it was very difficult when I was on a long altitude camp but my girlfriend was there, she supported me every day when highly pregnant,” he said.

“I was struggling to finish my training schedule but I changed my mind, I talked, I have a bright future in cycling, I became a father and everything is blue skies, only blue skies.”

The Belgian had done his best to feign fatigue in the finale – admitting to “playing a little bit dirty” with his facial expressions – but he was merely holding back before bursting forward in the last few hundred metres to take a popular victory.

Victor Campenaerts beat Matteo Vercher and Michal Kwiatkowski from a breakaway (Jerome Delay/AP) (AP)

[19 July 2024 10:42 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Yesterday: Campenaerts celebrates emotional maiden stage win

New dad Victor Campenaerts celebrated an emotional first career Tour de France win on stage 18 as Tadej Pogacar kept his lead in the yellow jersey.

Breakaway specialist Campenaerts got his timing right in a three-up sprint against Tour debutant Matteo Vercher and Michal Kwiatkowski to win in Barcelonnette before immediately joining a tearful video call with his girlfriend Nel and their baby boy Gustaaf, a little over a month old.

A heavily pregnant Nel had joined Campenaerts on a nine-week training camp at altitude in the build-up to this Tour, and gave birth to Gustaaf in Spain’s Sierra Nevada just a couple of weeks before the opening stage.

Victor Campenaerts celebrates after winning stage 18 (AP)

[19 July 2024 10:25 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France – stage 19

Hello and welcome along to what might just be an epic day at the Tour de France! It is certainly an intimidating route, with three huge climbs for the peloton to scale including the highest paved road in France, the Cime de la Bonette, which blocks the way to a summit finish at the mountain resort of Isola.