Tour de France 2024: Pogacar insatiable - victory in climbing tour through the Alps

Around 4400 metres in altitude, the highest climb of this Tour de France at 2800 metres and a final ascent to the Isola 2000 ski resort: the 19th stage of the Tour de France was a 144.6-kilometre climbing ordeal. For a long time, the stage was dominated by a high-calibre leading group. But the day's victory once again went to Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who overtook the last breakaway rider Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) two kilometres before the finish.

Jorgenson finished second, 21 seconds behind the winner, while Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), also a member of the escape group, finished third, 40 seconds behind the winner. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) finished 1:42 minutes behind the winner.

Around ten kilometres before the finish, Pogacar attacked from the group of favourites on the final climb - and neither Vingegaard nor Evenepoel were able to follow his attack. The man in yellow was once again in a league of his own on this day.

Pogacar thus extended his overall lead in the overall standings. He now leads by 5:03 minutes ahead of Vingegaard. Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) took the lead in the mountain classification with his victories in the mountain classifications on the Col de Vars (HC category) and Cime de la Bonette (HC category). The green jersey remained with Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty). Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) continues to lead the junior classification.

Tour de France 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 19

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 4:04:03
2. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:21
3. Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) +0:40
4. Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) +1:11
5. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +1:42
6. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:42
7. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2:00
8. Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +2:00
9. Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) +2:52
10. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +3:27

The current overall standings

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 78:49:20
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +5:03
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +7:01
4. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +15:07
5. Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +15:34
6. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +17:36
7. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +19:18
8. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +21:52
9. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), +22:43
10. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +22:46

>> The results of the Tour de France 2024

How the 19th stage of the Tour de France 2024 went

The teams' chances of winning a stage are dwindling. This stage proved to be correspondingly tempting for teams with strong climbers. After just five kilometres, a high-calibre breakaway group of 20 riders broke away and UAE Team Emirates let them go after some resistance.

Among the breakaway riders were Jorgenson, Wilco Kelderman and Christophe Laporte (all Visma | Lease a Bike), Warren Barguil and Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Magnus Cort Nielsen and Jonas Abrahamsen (both Uno-X Mobility), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale), Cristian Rodriguez (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Ilan van Wilder (Soudal - Quick Step), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost) and Bryan Coquard (Cofidis).

Carapaz catches up with the leading group late

Coquard secured the intermediate sprint after 21 kilometres in Guillestre from the group. However, the breakaway's lead at this point was only around 30 seconds - EF Education EasyPost in particular did not let the group go. The reason: Richard Carapaz was supposed to be in the group of the day with an eye on the mountain classification. Shortly afterwards, the Ecuadorian attacked from the peloton, later Simon Yates also attacked.

On the first climb of the day, the Col de Vars (HC category), the leading group quickly fell apart. Only Hindley, van Wilder, Prodhomme, Onley, Rodriguez and Carapaz and Simon Yates, who had caught up from behind, were able to follow the pace of Jorgenson and Kelderman. The mountain classification at 2105 metres was finally won by Carapaz after 43 kilometres. The lead over a group of favourites that had been reduced to around 30 riders increased to 3:30 minutes at this point.

Gall drops back, Vingegaard without a helper early on

This was followed by a 20-kilometre descent before heading to the roof of the Tour, the Cime de la Bonette (HC category) at an altitude of 2,800 metres. Van Wilder, Prodhomme and Onley then dropped back on the climb, with Carapaz again taking the points from the remaining breakaway riders - which earned him 40 points for the mountain classification. He thus took the lead in the special classification.

Meanwhile, Felix Gall (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) dropped back in the group of favourites on the climb, and Jonas Vingegaard was also without a helper early on. The group comprised around 15 riders at the summit. This was followed by a descent of around 40 kilometres to the final climb to Isola 2000, where the gap to the escape group grew to around four minutes.

Pogacar leaves everyone behind on the final climb

On the 16.1 kilometre long final climb, Rodriguez was the first to lose the lead group, with Hindley the next rider to drop back. With 13 kilometres to go, Jorgenson went on the offensive, broke away from his companions and quickly built up a 30-second lead.

Ten kilometres before the finish, Pogacar launched an attack from the group of favourites, which none of his rivals were able to follow. Behind the Slovenian, Evenepoel and Vingegaard set off in pursuit. At this point, Pogacar's gap to Jorgenson was 2:30 minutes - and gradually decreased over the following kilometres. Pogacar gradually flew past the former breakaway riders and left Jorgenson behind two kilometres before the finish. It was Pogacar's fourth stage win in this Tour de France.