The Cannibal Pogacar achieves his 4th stage victory in the Tour de France 2024

Matteo Jorgenson is left with a bitter taste in his mouth once again at the Tour de France, just like what happened last year at Puy de Dome, as Tadej Pogacar becomes his executioner once more. Despite not needing to take risks and having a comfortable lead in the general classification, Pogacar did not want to leave any crumbs and unleashed his offensive once again on the final climb to Isola 2000.

Poker of stages for Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France 2024

The queen stage of the Alps in this Tour de France 2024 reaches a mythical summit that, like the Col du Granon two years ago, the race wanted to recover in this edition. In the case of Isola 2000, it had not been climbed for 31 years when, in the 1997 Tour de France, Tony Rominger managed to beat Miguel Indurain in a still talked-about final sprint, with some saying that the Navarrese let the Swiss win as he always did in flat stages, while others claim that on that day Indurain wanted to win and Rominger was the only one capable of beating him in those years of Miguelón's prime.

Today, the Tour de France 2024 proposed a stage of 144 kilometers, short for what is usual in the Alps, starting from Embrun and climbing towards Guillestre to ascend the Col de Vars on its less common side, as this is a climb that is almost always associated with the mythical Izoard. After this, they descended towards Barcelonette, the finish line of yesterday's stage, to face the long Col de la Bonette, the highest road in France and, depending on where you read, also in Europe, although in reality, that honor belongs to the summit of Pico Veleta in Sierra Nevada. Finally, they had to face the 16 tough kilometers to the ski resort of Isola 2000 to accumulate more than 4,000 meters of accumulated elevation gain.

The stage started with a fierce battle for the breakaway and a group of 20 cyclists managed to form, almost all of them top-level names: Kwiatkowski, Lazkano, Matteo Jorgenson, Magnus Cort, Christophe Laporte, Jai Hindley, to which Richard Carapaz and Simon Yates joined, leaving the peloton during the climb to Vars. Precisely the Ecuadorian was the first to crown Vars, categorized excessively as Hors Categorie, which allowed him to place himself just 20 points behind Tadej Pogacar in the Mountain classification.

In the Bonette, the escapees continued to consolidate a lead of more than 4 minutes, but soon they would have to make an effort because, behind them, UAE Team Emirates set the pace with a powerful Nils Politt, leaving the main group with just a score of cyclists. This caused the breakaway to be selected in front, with only 6 cyclists remaining: Carapaz, Hindley, Yates, Kelderman, Jorgenson, and Cristian Rodríguez.

In any case, there were no movements on the ramps of this colossus, but a lot of wear and tear. The most notable thing was that Richard Carapaz secured the polka dot jersey for tomorrow's stage by passing first, correctly categorized as Hors Categorie, the Col de la Bonette.

After a long descent, they reached the beginning of the climb to Isola 2000 with a little over 4 minutes of advantage over the peloton. A difference that, considering the level of the riders in the breakaway, could be enough to achieve victory as long as someone from behind did not fancy winning, as it seemed to be the case since, at the beginning of the climb, the entire UAE Team Emirates arrived grouped and led by Marc Soler, who gave his all until the last breath.

On the other hand, it was Kelderman who entered pulling hard at the front, a sign that his move was not tactical in preparation for a possible attack by Vingegaard, but clearly to seek the stage victory with Matteo Jorgenson. In fact, a few kilometers into the climb, Kelderman stepped aside and the American launched his offensive.

Carapaz tried to follow but couldn't close the gap. In fact, Simon Yates, who paced himself better, managed to catch up to his wheel and drop him while the tables turned and it was the British rider who chased after the Visma-Lease a Bike cyclist.

And behind them, as expected, but much further than expected. Tadej Pogacar launched his attack 9 kilometers from the finish, more of a change of pace than a hard attack like in previous days, to which Vingegaard did not even attempt to respond, clearly showing he was riding conservatively. In fact, it was Remco Evenepel who took on the weight of the chase, but in vain as the gap only continued to grow from that moment until the end.

Mercilessly, Tadej Pogacar caught up to the escapees. Carapaz tried to hold onto his wheel, only to give up a few hundred meters later, and the same happened to Simon Yates. Finally, Tadej also caught up to Matteo Jorgenson with just a kilometer and 900 meters to go, and in a display of ambition, he continued to push hard until the finish line to secure the largest possible time gap.

The attack by the UAE Team Emirates rider resulted in a gap of 1 minute and 42 seconds over the duo formed by Remco and Jonas. A little further back, at 2 minutes, they crossed the finish line, clearly demonstrating that, at this stage of the Tour de France 2024, the road puts everyone in their place, and that place coincides with the order they occupy in the general classification.

Stage 19 Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 4h04'03''
2. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +21''
3. Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) +40''
4. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +1'11''
5. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +1'42''
6. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'42''
7. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2'00''
8. Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) +2'00''
9. Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) +2'52''
10. Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) +3'57''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 78h49'20''
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +5'03''
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +7'01''
4. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +15'07''
5. Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) +15'34''
6. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +17'36''
7. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +19'18''
8. Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) +21'52''
9. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +22'43''
10. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +22'46''