2015 Tour de France Stage 19 Results & Recap
Stage 19 of the 2015 Tour de France is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Nibali redeemed with La Toussuire win
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) put a different complexion on his Tour de France by soloing to victory on stage 19 to La Toussuire, the race’s third successive day in the Alps. The Sicilian attacked some 62 kilometres from the finish on the upper slopes of the Col de la Croix de Fer, bridging across to the early escapee Pierre Rolland (Europcar) at the summit of the penultimate climb, the Col de Mollard, then dropping him at the foot of the final haul to the line.
Chris Froome (Sky) retained the overall lead but endured his most difficult day thus far, conceding 30 seconds to Nairo Quintana (Movistar) after the Colombian danced away from the yellow jersey group inside the final six kilometres. Quintana took second place on the stage, 43 seconds down on Nibali, while Froome came home in third, 1:14 behind.
Froome was left isolated following an aggressive start to the day’s racing by Astana, Movistar and Tinkoff-Saxo, and he had just Wout Poels for company from his Sky team on the final climb. The Briton was unable to get back on terms when Quintana finally went on the offensive in the finale, though he did put more than a minute into Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) as he gave chase alone.
The day’s big loser was Froome’s teammate Geraint Thomas, who was already placed in difficulty by the volley of attacks on the opening climb, the Col du Chaussy, and was then distanced definitively on the Col de la Croix de Fer. The Welshman would go on to lose all hope of a top five finish in Paris.
Froome faces into Saturday’s penultimate stage to l’Alpe d’Huez with an advantage of 2:38 over Quintana and 5:25 over Valverde, while last year’s winner Nibali has moved up to 4th place overall, 6:44 back.
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