In a spectacular mountainous day, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) won stage 19 of the Tour de France 2024 starting in Embrun and finishing in Isola 2000 over 144.6 kilometers, crowning the first category mountain prize in the Alps.
The Slovenian rider, who reached his fourth stage in the French round, rounded off a spectacular performance after attacking in the final stretch, making an incredible comeback to overtake all his rivals and cross the finish line waving to the public, followed by the American Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) at 21 seconds. Third came the British Simon Yates (Team Jayco AlUla) at 40 seconds.
Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) finished 4th and Colombian Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain – Victorious) was 14th, 4:11 behind the solid leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who gained more than a minute advantage over his closest rivals and secured the overall lead. Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) is 5:03 behind him.
The leg-breaking day of cycling, which started from Embrun, began with a hectic start. Visma | Lease a Bike made a strategic move on the initial ascent of the Col de Vars (18.9 km at 5.6%), sending two climbers into the breakaway.
On the first ramps of the first out-of-category climb, the breakaway of the day was formed and had to wait to settle. The adventure included American Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Frenchman Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), Belgian Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step), Australian Jai Hindley (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrove), Belgian Ilan Van Wilder (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrove) and Frenchman Jai Hindley (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrove), Australian Jai Hindley (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education – EasyPost), Spaniard Cristián Rodríguez (Arkéa – B&B Hotels) and British riders Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Simon Yates (Team Jayco AlUla).
The last kilometers of the first category climb, the final ascent, saw a duel between the ‘Cocks of the General’, with an interesting move and a strong change of pace by Pogacar, who stopped all his rivals.
After overcoming the first two mountain passes of the day without problems and after the work of his faithful squires of the Arabian team, Pogacar took a risk and went on the attack in the final stage to take his fourth victory in this edition.
The round of France will continue this Saturday with the penultimate stage, another 132.8-kilometer mountainous day between Nice and the Col de la Couillole, which includes four categorized climbs and a first-category uphill finish. The successor to Danish Jonas Vingegaard, last year’s champion, will be announced this Sunday in Nice.
Tour de France (2.UWT)
Stage 19 | Embrun – Isola 2000 (144,6 km)
| 1 | POGAČAR Tadej | UAE Team Emirates | 4:04:03 |
| 2 | JORGENSON Matteo | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 0:21 |
| 3 | YATES Simon | Team Jayco AlUla | 0:40 |
| 4 | CARAPAZ Richard | EF Education – EasyPost | 1:11 |
| 5 | EVENEPOEL Remco | Soudal Quick-Step | 1:42 |
| 6 | VINGEGAARD Jonas | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 7 | ALMEIDA João | UAE Team Emirates | 2:00 |
| 8 | LANDA Mikel | Soudal Quick-Step | ,, |
| 9 | KELDERMAN Wilco | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 2:52 |
| 10 | GEE Derek | Israel – Premier Tech | 3:27 |
Ranking General
| 1 | POGAČAR Tadej | UAE Team Emirates | 78:49:20 |
| 2 | VINGEGAARD Jonas | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 5:03 |
| 3 | EVENEPOEL Remco | Soudal Quick-Step | 7:01 |
| 4 | ALMEIDA João | UAE Team Emirates | 15:07 |
| 5 | LANDA Mikel | Soudal Quick-Step | 15:34 |
| 6 | RODRÍGUEZ Carlos | INEOS Grenadiers | 17:36 |
| 7 | YATES Adam | UAE Team Emirates | 19:18 |
| 8 | GEE Derek | Israel – Premier Tech | 21:52 |
| 9 | JORGENSON Matteo | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 22:43 |
| 10 | CICCONE Giulio | Lidl – Trek | 22:46 |
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico