2024 Tour de France Stage 19 Results & Recap
Stage 19 of the 2024 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
Pogacar wins stage 19
Matteo Jorgenson attacked from the breakaway on the early slopes of the finishing climb. Tadej Pogacar went after him with about 10 kilometres to go. The yellow jersey gobbled up all the attackers until he made the final catch inside the last 2 kilometres. The Slovenian forged on to take his fourth stage win.
“After winning this stage, I can confirm that the Col de la Bonnette is a scary climb," Pogacar said. "When you use it in training, you can skip the last kilometre but in the race, today, it was very hard. Between the Giro and the Tour, I had a hard training period and I knew today's last climb very well. With the team, we planned it well and we did exactly as we said. Our race was 100% perfect. My goal today was to win the stage, but as I approached the last two kilometres, I felt a little drained. I still caught Richard Carapaz and Simon Yates and I could catch up with Matteo Jorgenson. When it was time to pass him, I pushed as hard as possible to overtake him with speed. He was very strong today, as were all the guys in the breakaway. Hats off to them. I'm very happy. Reaching the score of fifteen Tour stage victories is quite formidable. Now I have a good lead. Tomorrow I can let the escape go to the end. I will do the last two days of the Tour on the roads where I have trained my entire professional career.”
Visma | Lease a Bike was up to something. Matteo Jorgenson, Christophe Laporte, and Wilco Kelderman were part of an early breakaway of 22 riders. Richard Carapaz and Simon Yates made the junction on the Col de Vars, while a lot of riders were dropped.
The lead group at the Vars summit included Matteo Jorgenson, Wilco Kelderman, Nicolas Prodhomme, Ilan Van Wilder, Jai Hindley, Richard Carapaz, Cristián RodrĂguez, Simon Yates, and Oscar Onley. Carapaz took the most KOM points at the summit.
Onley, Prodhomme, and Van Wilder were dropped on the Cime de la Bonette. Carapaz was the first rider to reach the summit, and took the lead in the mountains classification from Tadej Pogacar.
“Our main objective today was to get the Mountain jersey," Carapaz said. "My team did a great job to allow me to get into the breakaway on the day and once I was there I fought to get as many points as possible. Once I arrived at Isola 2000 with an advantage, I tried to fight for the stage victory. I was aware that the climb is very tough and I tried to stay as close to Jorgenson as possible. However, I couldn't... and Tadej came from behind, to take away any chance of victory. Anyway, I am very happy with how the day went. This Mountain jersey is a prestigious prize. All riders in my country dream of it because in Ecuador there are many mountains. Being the king of the Mountain means a lot to me. I'm going to try to keep this jersey until the end. It is my great personal goal, and the team is also supporting me a lot to achieve it.”
In the valley leading up to the finishing climb, the attackers reached a maximum lead of 4.30 minutes.
UAE Emirates sped up, and the gap had fallen to 3.30 minutes with 14 kilometres left to climb. This inspired Jorgenson to attack from the lead group. He opened up a 30-second lead, and then Carapaz started to chase. Moments later, Tadej Pogacar dropped the remaining riders in the GC group.
Carapaz initially closed in on Jorgenson, but then falters. Yates caught up with him. Meanwhile, Pogacar approached at a rapid pace.
Yates dropped Carapaz in the final seven kilometres, but it was to no avail, as the yellow jersey kept surging on. He overhauled all the attackers before he caught Jorgensen within the last 2 kilometers and soloed to his fourth stage victory of this Tour de France.
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