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Stage 19 report:
And there you have it. Pogacar keeps his commanding GC lead, Onley looks to have sewn up fourth, which is a remarkable performance over three weeks, and Arensman now has two Tour stage wins to go with his two Vuelta wins from 2022. Jonathan Milan is odds-on to seal the points classification and Florian Lipowitz will be the best young rider.
Pogacar tops the KOM classification with 117pts, Vingegaard is second with 104, Martinez third with 97. Arensman, after today’s win, went fourth with 85pts. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you soon.
Updated at 12.31 EDT
Pogacar speaks: “We did a really good job until the last climb. Then some teams, some riders, think they can sprint 19km of the climb. The pace was incredibly high at the start. I was thinking maybe Jonas wanted to win a stage, but then he was just holding on to my wheel.
“Arensman went on a good attack. I decided not to follow, set my rhythm. A defensive rhythm that I feel comfortable with. And yeah, in the end, it was like this. I am just happy it’s over, and two more days to Paris.
“I had to pull the whole climb in the end. Of course I came quite tired to the finish line. But also, it was tough, the last three days for me. I’m happy that today is over. We go tomorrow.
“You never know. It’s Tour de France. We keep concentrated, and yeah, let’s go.”
SharePoints classification – top five
1) Milan 352pts
2) Pogacar 272pts
3) Girmay 213pts
4) Vingegaard 182pts
5) Turgis 169pts
The sprinters have rolled in with five minutes to spare.
Hence, Jonathan Milan is looking very good for the points classification.
Updated at 12.14 EDT
“It’s a game,” Gasparotto says of Red Bull-Bora’s tactics. “If you want to win big, you have to risk a little bit, otherwise you don’t win big.
“We did a lot of analysis of Lipo’s performance [yesterday]. We were quite confident, staying on the wheel of Onley, that Lipo could be superior in the final.”
Updated at 12.12 EDT
Enrico Gasparotto of Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe speaks to Hannah Walker on TNT Sports and is asked about their tactics:
“I would say it was clear yesterday that Primoz really wanted to win a stage. He knew our team goal was to finish on the podium, but for himself, he badly wanted to win a stage. At the end, this is what he did, he tried yesterday … at the end he missed the opportunity. Today was the last opportunity, he wanted to go flat out from the start. For us, for Lipo, it could work also for him. This is what he did. At the end, it’s a tactic we agreed on.”
Updated at 12.16 EDT
Roglic has dropped to eighth in GC, 25min 30sec down on the leader. A spectacular drop after his stage-winning attempts earlier.
Updated at 12.02 EDT
Arensman, the stage winner, has a chat: “I’m absolutely destroyed. I can’t believe it. To win one stage, from a break … now against the GC group, the strongest riders in the world, it feels like I’m dreaming. I don’t know what I just did.
“After the descent to La Plagne, we were talking in the radio … I said to the DS in the radio, today is the last mountain stage, I have no GC to ride for, but I will try to hang on for a few kilometres in the climb, and see how the legs feel. Tobias [Foss], I told him straight away swing off, then tomorrow is your day.
“I started the climb, I thought, I have no GC [aims]: maybe they will look at each other? You know what, I’ll just try it. I just don’t take no for an answer.
“Everyone knows Tadej and Jonas are the strongest in the world, almost aliens. Then just as a human, I still want to try to beat them. I just can’t believe I beat them today.
“I tried to not look behind, just go as fast as I could, and it was enough. It’s crazy. I was the first two weeks in the Giro, it was really good for me, the first two weeks, but then I got sick and someone crashed into me, and my knee was hurting a lot. I got to Rome … but to get to the Tour, to get two stage victories. It’s just crazy. I don’t know!”
Updated at 12.18 EDT
Top 10 GC after stage 19
1) Tadej Pogacar 69hr 41min 46sec
2) Jonas Vingegaard +4min 24sec
3) Florian Lipowitz +11min 09sec
4) Oscar Onley +12min 12sec
5) Felix Gall +17min 12sec
6) Tobias Johannessen +20min 14sec
7) Kevin Vauquelin (+22min 35sec)
8) Primoz Roglic (+25min 30sec)
9) Ben Healy (28 min 02sec)
10) Ben O’Connor (+34min 34sec)
So Onley is 1min 03sec behind Lipowitz now.
Updated at 11.59 EDT
The worst-case scenario for Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe, after Roglic’s kamikaze attack for the stage win, was for Onley to skip away from Lipowitz on the final climb. But ultimately the German was much stronger.
Updated at 11.45 EDT
Top 10 on stage 19
1) Thymen Arensman 2hr 46min 06sec
2) Jonas Vingegaard +2sec
3) Tadej Pogacar +2sec
4) Florian Lipowitz +6sec
5) Oscar Onley +47sec
6) Felix Gall +1min 34sec
7) Tobias Johannessen +1min 41sec
8) Ben Healy +2min 19sec
9) Valentin Paret-Peintre +3min 47sec
10) Simon Yates +3min 54sec
Vingegaard came in second, two seconds behind the winner.
Now here comes Ben Healy. What a race he’s had for EF Education–EasyPost, by the way.
Arensman collapses with exhaustion near the finish line. He appears to be weeping with joy. And why not?
Updated at 11.35 EDT
Pogacar appeared to collide with a member of staff at the line, but it was a minor knock. Onley comes in 45sec behind Arensman. The other three were nothing more than three, four seconds behind the stage winner.
ShareThymen Arensman wins stage 19
A second stage win of the race for the Ineos Grenadiers rider. He clings on, but only just. What a brave victory.
Thymen Arensman wins a gruelling stage 19. Photograph: Loïc Venance/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 11.45 EDT
200m to go: Arensman is going to cling on!
500m to go: Arensman kicks! He’s got six seconds!
600m to go: Only 8sec for Arensman!
800m to go: Lipowitz is setting the pace for the chasers. Onley battles on back down the road but he will not get back in touch.
1km to go: Flamme rouge for Arensman! But he has only 15sec! I think they might just catch him …
1.3km to go: Lipowitz leads Pogacar. Vingegaard is there, but has again been helpless to make any inroads into Pogacar’s lead.
1.5km to go: Onley is now distanced slightly and Lipowitz, sending weakness, ups the pace.
Onley’s chance of the podium looks to be gone unless he can make up time tomorrow or on Sunday.
Updated at 11.29 EDT
2km to go: Onley is suffering. He drops off the back of Lipowitz’s wheel for a few seconds.
Pogacar looks happy simply to mark Vingegaard and let Arensman have the stage.
2.5km to go: It’s now or never for Pogacar? And indeed now or never for Onley to try and make up that 22sec.
3km to go: The crowds are huge and noisy now. Arensman makes his way through a large, screaming crowd. The group of four, the top four in GC at the Tour de France, follow 19sec later.
Is Pogacar happy to let Arensman have the stage win?
Updated at 11.26 EDT
3.5km to go: Vauquelin is in a group of six, five minutes down on the leaders now. A tough day for the Frenchman who will be overhauled in the GC and certainly be knocked down to eighth.
4km to go: Onley sits third wheel. Lipowitz remains glued (not literally) to the 22-year-old Scot’s back wheel.
4.5km to go: It’s a 25sec lead for Arensman. Pogacar has clearly upped things a bit behind, but it looks like Arensman has responded.
Gall and Johannessen are now alone, third group on the road, having dropped the former yellow jersey wearer Ben Healy.
Updated at 11.22 EDT
5km to go: Arensman stands up and dances on his pedals, maintaining a strong rhythm. He still has 24sec. La Plagne’s ski chalets are now dotting the sides of the road.
Updated at 11.21 EDT
5.5km to go: Pogacar continues to control the pace in this group of four. The gap shrinks to 25sec, between them and Arensman. Neither Onley nor Lipowitz look to have the legs to attack at this stage. But of course they are riding their own personal race, like Pogacar and Vingegaard above them in GC.
Updated at 11.20 EDT
6km to go: Arensman looks a tiny bit ragged but is still putting plenty of power into the pedals. He knows a second stage win of the race is in reach … But he also knows there is a big threat in yellow back down the road.
6.5km to go: Pogacar, Vingegaard, Onley, Lipowitz, in that order, in this second group on the road. Arensman, grinding it out up front, has 31sec.
6.5km to go: Pogacar attacks! Vingegaard follows, and Onley too, and momentarily a gap opens up to Lipowitz! But the German manages to get back on.
7km to go: Arensman has 35sec. Is Pogacar waiting for the steepest slopes? Is Lipowitz going to try and attack?
7.5km to go: Vauquelin is over 4min down now and has slipped to eighth in virtual GC. Pogacar rides on at the front of the group, apparently playing at being a domestique. Maybe his own domestique?
Updated at 11.13 EDT
8km to go: Arensman has 36sec now. He and his team will be starting to dream …
Updated at 11.12 EDT
8.5km to go: Pogacar sits first wheel in that group of seven now. He looks in total control, barely out of breath. He stands up on the pedals and ups the pace a bit, but it’s not a concerted attack. He glances back at his rivals, gauging if they are in pain, calculating when to launch the attack that might win him the stage.
Updated at 11.11 EDT
9km to go: Arensman powers on alone. The pain is etched on his face. But he knows, from recent experience, what it feels like to win a Tour de France stage. And he wants some more of it. Pain is merely temporary, after all.
Updated at 11.09 EDT
9.5km to go: It’s wet on the road. There are lots of fans, although not yet the kind of crowds we’ve seen on other mountains. Slovenian flags are out in force.
10km to go: A group of seven now, second on the road, half a minute behind Arensman: Pogacar, Vingegaard, Healy, Lipowitz, Gall, Onley, Johannessen.
Roglic has indeed collapsed and is 4min 19sec behind the leaders. Ouch.
Updated at 11.06 EDT
10.5km to go: Arensman, out front on his own, has 28sec. He won last Saturday so is in flying form:
Updated at 11.05 EDT
11km to go: Gall, Onley, Lipowitz and co have rejoined “Pogi” and Vingegaard.