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Tadej Pogačar accelerates on the slopes of Isola 2000 as he rides to the stage win on stage 19 of the 2024 Tour de France.

TdF stage 19 report: Pogačar is all alone at the top

With another stage win, the yellow jersey is asserting his dominance of the Tour de France with ruthless calculation and aggression.

Joe Lindsey
by Joe Lindsey 19.07.2024 Photography by
Cor Vos
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Tadej Pogačar put a definitive stamp on his dominant 2024 Tour de France with a solo victory atop Isola 2000 on one of the hardest days in the race. The UAE Team Emirates rider, who has worn yellow since stage 4, surged out of an elite group of favorites on the final climb and quickly swept up the remnants of the day’s breakaway to take a solo victory and further pad his margin in the general classification.

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Matteo Jorgenson, the last survivor of that break, finished second, 21 seconds behind. It’s the second year in a row for the American rider to be denied a stage win late on a summit finish. Behind, his teammate Jonas Vingegaard and Soudal-Quick Step’s Remco Evenepoel did their best to limit the damage but conceded a further 1:42 in the overall standings as they crossed in fifth and sixth place on the day behind two other survivors of the breakaway.

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How it happened

I can confirm Bonette is really scary. We were here training for a whole month between [the] Giro and Tour. And I knew this climb super well. We were speaking already in training camp, how we want to race this day. And we did it exactly like we said, to the point where I attacked.

Pogačar on a day that went exactly to plan

Brief analysis

Up next

One last mass-start stage awaits with a 132.8 km ride from Nice to the summit finish on the Col de la Couillole. With four major climbs and more than 4,700 meters of elevation gain, it will be a huge target for any good climbers on teams that have not yet won a stage. And so close to Nice, it’s also “home roads” for riders like Pogačar who live in nearby Monaco (or in Jorgenson’s case, Nice). Expect a big, early move and a knock-down fight in the break for the stage win.

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