Defending Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar is poised to claim his fifth title after an emphatic win on stage 19 to Alpe d'Huez. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider gained significant time on his rivals, solidifying his dominant position in the three-week race.
Pogacar, 27, is aiming to join cycling legends Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain as five-time winners of the Tour de France. He now holds a lead of seven minutes and 11 seconds over his closest competitor, Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, despite Evenepoel's improved climbing performance this season. Pogacar's teammate Isaac del Toro remains in third place, nine minutes and 42 seconds behind, and leads the young riders' classification.
The stage culminated with a grueling ascent up the iconic Alpe d'Huez. Pogacar's performance on the final climb set a new record time of 35 minutes and 27 seconds, surpassing the previous mark set by Marco Pantani in 1997. Thousands of spectators lined the famous ski resort climb, creating a vibrant atmosphere.
"It was very cool to win up here - it was a crazy atmosphere all climb and I'm thankful for the team that I it could pull it off," Pogacar stated after the stage. "When I heard some of the guys [were] dropped when [team-mate] Felix [Grosschartner] set a super good pace at the beginning of the climb, I was already going full gas, as the breakaway was so strong. Every kilometre of Alpe d'Huez I had good legs and not many could follow [me]."
Stage Dynamics
Earlier in the stage, a large breakaway group of over 40 riders established a considerable lead. However, the main peloton, led by Pogacar, gradually closed the gap. As the race approached the final climb, the breakaway win appeared to be contested among Lenny Martinez of Bahrain-Victorious, Sepp Kuss of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Richard Carapaz of EF Education-Easypost. Carapaz, who won the previous day's stage, finished third on the Alpe d'Huez climb, six seconds behind Pogacar. Martinez crossed the line second, expressing frustration with his performance.
The race will continue with its mountainous 'queen' stage on Saturday, featuring an additional 2,000 meters of climbing, before concluding in Paris.