Matej Mohoric gives Bahrain-Victorious another stage win in this Tour

A thrilling stage, the last chance for the middle class of the peloton to achieve a victory in this edition of the Tour de France that, as usually happens in these cases, ended up being disputed between the members of a breakaway. Matej Mohoric prevented Kasper Asgreen's double in a very tight sprint between them.

The Tour de France gives us the pleasure of a classic in the prelude to the final stage of the Tour de France

We knew that stage 19 would be a tough stage, a 170-kilometre leg-breaker between the towns of Moiran en Montagne and Poligny, in the Franche-Comté region bordering neighbouring Switzerland. However, when a stage of this type takes place in the third week, particularly if we take into account the very tough day that awaits the riders tomorrow in the Vosges, one would not expect anything different from what we saw yesterday.

However, there were still many teams and riders with aspirations that had not yet managed to score the much-desired stage victory, so the race went off at a breakneck pace without any attempt being made. More than 100 kilometers, ridden at a hair-raising pace of 48 km / h were necessary to consolidate the final cut when they merged a leading group led by Victor Campenaerts with another very large one in which rode people of the level of Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen, Mads Pedersen, Tiesj Benoot, Tom Pidcock, Julian Alaphilippe or Kasper Asgreen. In total 34 riders, including four members of Uno-X, once again making a remarkable performance in this Tour de France.

Almost at the same time that the merger took place, Victor Campenaerts decided to go ahead, taking Simon Clarke on his wheel. But the Australian paid for the effort of this hard stage in the form of cramp and, already on the ascent to the second and last climb of the day, Kasper Asgreen, who was accompanied by Matej Mohoric and Ben O'Connor, started from behind with force. They easily chased Campenaerts who was not able to hang on to his wheel.

Despite the numerous jumps from behind, with Mads Pedersen trying to neutralize the trio, finally it would be the break that would play for the stage victory. Already in the last kilometer, Ben O'Connor started trying to surprise, knowing he was the slowest in a sprint. He did not succeed and, on his wheel came out quickly Kasper Asgreen ready to repeat yesterday. And he almost succeeded, but a portentous Matej Mohoric managed to come back to, with the last blow of kidney, snatched a victory that he already tasted by just a few centimeters. So few that even had to resort to the photo finish to determine the winner.

Stage 19 Classification

1. Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious) 03h31’02’’
2. Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) +00’’
3. Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën) +04’’
4. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninc) +39’’
5. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +39’’
6. Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) +39’’
7. Luka Mezgec (Jayco-AlUla) +39’’
8. Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) +39’’
9. Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) +39’’
10. Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) +39’’

Overall Classification

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 75h49’24’’
2. Tadej Pocagar (UAE Team Emirates) +07’35’’
3. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +10’45’’
4. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +12’01’’
5. Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) +12’19’’
6. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +12’50’’
7. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +13’50’’
8. Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) +16’11’’
9. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) +15’49’’
10. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +17’57’’