The day began with smiles on the faces of the peloton, however this feeling likely would not last long, as the tough stage in the Alps would serve to separate the general classification. At 144.6 kilometers long, the mountainous stage would end at the ski resort Isola 2000 after two Hors Catégorie classified climbs earlier in the day.
Early into the race, with 136 kilometers still to go on the day, a group of 22 riders formed a break off the front. At the intermediate sprint just over 21 kilometers into the day, Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) crossed the line first, taking him to 3rd place in the points ranking, followed by Biniam Girmay (Intermarché–Wanty), who was the Green Jersey holder as leader of the points classification. Richard Carapaz (EF Education–EasyPost), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Romain Bardet (Team dsm–firmenich PostNL) began a move to bridge the gap to the lead group.
The lead group would soon reduce with 109 kilometers still left to the line, with 9 riders off the front. At the summit of the Hors Catégorie classified climb up the Col de Var, 102 kilometers from the line Richard Carapaz took first, followed closely by Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike)
At the start of the the Hors Catégorie classified Cime de la Bonette, the lead pack was 4:22 ahead of the main chase group, containing general classification leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). About halfway into the stage, with 75 kilometers remaining, Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) Ilan Val Wilder (Soudal-Quick-Step) and Nico Prodhomme (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale) fell off the pace of the front pack. At the top of the Cime de la Bonette, Richard Carapaz crossed first once again to emerge as the new leader of the King of the Mountains classification over Tadej Pogačar.
With 15 kilometers to go, the lead group had a 4 minute lead on the chase group. The lead group also began to whittle down it this point, with only five members as Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) was dropped. 2 kilometers later Jai Hindley (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) was also dropped from the lead group. 5 kilometers from the finish, Matteo Jorgensen was the only member of the former lead group left, and held only one minute over Pogačar, who was rapidly reeling in the American. With 3 kilometers to go, Simon Yates (Team Jayco–AlUla) and Tadej Pogačar were both under 10 seconds behind Jorgensen, who was caught with just around 2 kilometers remaining on the stage.
At the end of the day, it was Tadej Pogačar who prevailed on Stage 19 of the 2024 Tour de France, holding off Matteo Jorgensen and Simon Yates.
Pogačar looked like a man who knew he had won not only the stage, but the entire Tour de France this year. While not a foregone conclusion, The title is firmly in Tadej Pogačar's grasp and barring any major crash or technical issue, it looks like the Slovenian rider will earn his third Tour de France title at the age of 25.
Matteo Jorgenson, for his great effort on the day, finished in second, 21 seconds behind Pogačar. Pogačar expanded his lead over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the general classification to over 5 minutes, and over 7 minutes on Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step). Richard Carapaz takes hold of the Polka Dot jersey as King of the Mountains and was also voted the Most Combative Rider on the day. Biniam Girmay remains the points classification leader, and will once again don the Green Jersey on Stage 20.
Stage 20 will cover 132.8 kilometers from Nice to the summit of the Col de la Couillole.
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