Key Takeaways: Tour de France Stage 19

Breaking down how the hardest stage of the 2024 Tour de France was won while exposing the sport's best rider as being a level above the rest

After a brutal day of racing over the high passes of the remote mountains of the Hautes-Alpes, Tadej Pogačar definitively ended any remaining doubt and discussion about his qualifications as an all-time great Tour de France champion when he powered clear of his general classification (GC) rivals to mow down the remnants of the early breakaway on his way to a fourth stage win of this Tour atop the Isola 2000 ski resort. Behind Pogačar, Visma’s young American Matteo Jorgenson, the last remaining survivor of the early breakaway, came over the line visibly devastated and upset in second place just 21 seconds later.

After the dust had settled, the race leader’s impressive high-altitude dominance had increased his GC lead by nearly two minutes over Evenepoel and Vingegaard, the only riders in the same vicinity in the GC as Pogačar. With a seemingly unassailable overall lead of over five minutes to Vingegaard with just two days of racing, Pogačar’s aggressive racing, which ruffled feathers as well as upsetting and confounding some viewers, appears to have secured his third career overall Tour de France win, even if he has to wait until Sunday’s finish in Nice to officially claim the title.

Stage Top Five
1) Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +0
2) Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +21
3) Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) +40
4) Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +1’11
5) Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) +1’42

Polka Dot (KOM) Jersey
1) Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) 101pts
2) Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 87pts
3) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 59pts

Time Select GC Contenders Gained(+)/Lost(-) on the Stage:
Pogačar +0
Vingegaard -1’52
Evenepoel -1’52
Almeida -2’10
Landa -2’10

Current GC Top Five:
1) Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +0
2) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +5’03
3) Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +7’01
4) João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +15’07
5) Mikel Landa (Soudal QuickStep) +15’34

Stage 19 Race Notebook

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139.9km-to-go: As soon as the stage gets underway, Visma begins attacking, sending Christophe Laporte into the early breakaway with Matteo Jorgenson quickly bridging across. Since Laporte has little chance of getting too far into the day due to the climbs, this is clearly a ploy to use him to drive the pace and make sure the move sticks for Jorgenson. On the surface, this is an attempt to get riders up the road to help Vingegaard should he attack or falter later on. But it also gives them the chance to chase the stage win later on should Vingegaard stay in the peloton.

122km: Even with Visma setting up for a raid later in the stage, UAE doesn’t come to the front to pace the move back, partly because EF is on the front working in an attempt to hold the gap tight so Richard Carapaz can attack and bridge across the gap. Once the team gets him within 15 seconds, Carapaz goes, and after his teammate Neilson Powless drops back from the front to pace him up to the front, he makes it across and racks up enough KOM points along the route due to the double-points atop the Bonette to all but seal the KOM.

108km: With Visma driving the pace in the breakaway, UAE sets a steady tempo on the front of the peloton as the gap sits around two minutes.

72.9km: Even with the gap out to four minutes, UAE is still pacing hard on the front on the massive Col de la Bonette (the highest through road in Europe), which indicates they want to set Pogačar up to win the stage. Due to their steady pace and their early aggressive tactics, Visma is down to having just two riders with Vingegaard, while UAE has five around Pogacar.

72.8km: Part of the reason UAE is able to preserve its riders is due to having the massive Nils Politt taking a marathon turn on the front at 400+ watts, which is quickly thinning down the group and allowing his teammates to hide in the draft and save themselves for later in the stage.

53km: This effort means that after Politt pulls off halfway up the climb, the team is able to cross the summit of the Bonette with four riders surrounding Pogačar, which made a potential attack extremely difficult and likely played a part in Vingegaard calling off their planned attack (even if he attacked and bridged up to his teammates in the breakaways, Pogačar could stay with his teammates and have them pace).

14.8km: At the bottom of the final climb up to Isola 2000, Pogačar still has three teammates in front of him, while the gap to the breakaway is just under four minutes. Remco Evenepoel is sitting directly on Pogačar’s wheel, but Vingegaard is further back in the field.

13.5km (lead group): Up front, with the gap slowly coming down to 3.5 minutes, Jorgenson attacks his breakaway companions and sets off in pursuit of the stage win.

13.5km (GC group): Vingegaard eventually moves up, but instead of parking himself right behind Pogačar, he is sitting on Evenepoel’s wheel. This indicates that he is likely more worried about marking Evenepoel than attacking or even just limiting his losses to Pogačar.

8.7km: With Adam Yates setting a steady, but not nuclear fast, pace, that has the gap to Jorgenson down to around three minutes, Pogačar attacks.

8.6km: For the first time at this Tour, he is immediately marked by Evenepoel while Vingegaard sits behind his wheel.

8.5km: Despite being able to stay with Pogačar initially, the gap to Evenepoel quickly blows out,

8.4km-7.7km: Just two hundred meters after Pogačar attacked, he already has 26 seconds on Evenepoel and Vingegaard (who isn’t offering up any turns). After a kilometer, he has cut the gap to Jorgenson down to two minutes.

3.5km-2km: Once Pogačar is off in pursuit of Jorgenson, the gap begins to plunge as Pogačar blows by Richard Carapaz and Simon Yates before making his way up to Jorgenson and holding a gap of 1’44 on Evenepoel and Vingegaard, only 6.7kms after the initial attack.

1.9km: Immediately after making contact with Jorgenson, Pogačar blows by him, ensuring there is no chance the American can get into his slipstream and contest the stage win.

Finish: Pogačar crosses the line for his fourth stage win at this Tour, 21 seconds in front of a devastated Jorgenson.

Chase Group Finish: Nearly two minutes later, Evenepoel rolls over with an empty Vingegaard still glued to his wheel.

Three Key Takeaways

1) Tadej Pogačar’s Aggressive Racing Was Done to Avenge Past Humiliations at the Hands of Visma & End Any Debate Surrounding His Supremacy in the High Mountains: On the Tour’s hardest day of racing, Pogačar’s UAE team rallied around him and created an unassailable fortress around the race leader over the high-altitude terrain that was supposed to be his weakness and suit main GC rival, Jonas Vingegaard. Some viewers and fans may have preferred that Tadej Pogačar back off and let Matteo Jorgenson take the stage, but it is important to remember that this is still a live race, and time gained today will insulate against potential issues on the challenging Stages 20 & 21. Also, due to Visma defeating Pogačar in the last two Tours, winning at the team's expense likely held an appeal.