Tour de France Stage 19: Tadej Pogačar Brushes Away Rivals with Alpe d'Huez Annihilation

Tadej Pogačar blew away his rivals and brushed off questions of sickness with a total annihilation of Alpe d’Huez on stage 19 of the Tour de France.

The yellow jersey stomped away from the GC group in the early bends of the infamous switchback climb, gobbled up the breakaway, and all-but sealed yellow with a defiant victory Friday on top of the Alpe.

This was another statement win for the Slovenian.

He bridged more than 3 minutes to the survivors of the day’s early break with a relentless, irresistible attack that blew away Marco Pantani’s historic climbing record.

It earned Pogačar his fifth victory of the 2026 Tour de France, the 26th of his career, and another place in the record books of climbing times.

The 27-year-old climbed the Alpe in 35:27 on Friday, demolishing Marco Pantani’s two best marks by around 90 seconds.

Lenny Martinez and Richard Carapaz finished 2-3 behind Pogačar after they lit up the front of the race with an Alpe d’Huez climbing duel.

Martinez and Carapaz clung to Pogačar’s wheel after the yellow jersey blasted across to them, but Pogačar was relentless, shaking them off with one last acceleration around 1km from the line.

Pogačar puts yellow jersey into vice grip

Pogačar moved one huge step closer to a record-equaling fifth yellow jersey on Friday.

Remco Evenepoel was the best finisher from the GC group, but he was still 2:29 back on the GOATish Slovenian.

The four-time winner leads the race over Evenepoel by 7:11 after an attack that landed a bombshell into the GC group.

Isaac Del Toro, Mattias Skjelmose, and Paul Seixas finished close behind Evenepoel, and the top-4 remains unchanged on GC.

However, the lead quartet is now split by 10 minutes as Pogačar continues to rule over the Tour de France.

Pogačar hailed the work of his teammates at the finish after UAE Emirates-XRG dug deep to set up the stage.

“It’s very cool to win up here. It was a crazy atmosphere all climb. Thanks to all the team that I could pull it off in the end,” he said at the finish. “I was riding for them today. I am super happy to take the win.

“Already in the climb before the Alpe we were going full gas,” he continued. “Because the breakaway was so strong, we had to go full gas all day. Then in the first kilometer of Alpe d’Huez, I knew I had good legs. There were not many guys left that maybe can follow or try to go with me. So I tried.”

Juan Ayuso and Tom Pidcock both suffered significant losses on the Alpe. They both cracked in the early corners of the 13.8km climb and lost around 4 minutes to the GC pack.

High anticipation in the Alps

Friday’s 19th stage was loaded with expectation.

The men’s Tour returned to the mythical 21 switchbacks of Alpe d’Huez for the first time since 2022, just as UAE looked on the ropes with a wave of sickness.

Hundreds of thousands of fans mobbed to the HC climb in anticipation.

The stage blew up early. At only 128km long and with questions over UAE, the breakaway riders saw hope.

A huge attack of 42 riders formed over the stage’s opening two categorized climbs. This mini peloton of attackers rolled lasted into a long valley toward the penultimate climb to Col d’Ornon with 3:25 advantage.

Intriguingly, Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe and Pinarello-Q36.5 took control in the main bunch, and Pogačar’s sickly squad got a free sit in the wheels.

Red Bull perhaps spied an opportunity with Evenepoel, while Pinarello saw a threat to Pidcock’s GC position from Martinez making the break.

Showdown on the Alpe

Fifteen riders remained out front as the race rushed into the steep early ramps of the Alpe.

Pogačar and a small GC group clicked into the lower sprocket just 3:30 later.

Pogačar didn’t leave anything to chance. He wanted the stage win, the climbing record, and to all-but seal his fifth yellow jersey.

The 27-year-old burst out of the GC group after only 2km of the Alpe and carved his way around the infamous bends.

Evenepoel and Seixas didn’t even seem to try to follow, stunned.

Pogačar hooked up with his teammate Adam Yates a kilometer later after the Brit made the early break. Yates – who had been sick – delivered a huge 2km turn before he blew his own legs off.

Breakaway riders Kuss, Martinez and stage 18 winner Carapaz didn’t wait around when they knew Pogačar was coming. The three elite climbers led the race through thousands of beer-sozzled fans that packed the top half of the climb.

Carapaz attacked repeatedly in his quest for an iconic win on the Alpe, but couldn’t make it stick. Martinez and Kuss didn’t let the elastic snap until the Ecuadorian made one last all-out attack 3km from the summit.

But Pogačar was coming, fast.

He bridged to Carapaz just 1,500m from the finish line with Martinez sucking his wheel.

Pogačar made one last acceleration inside the final kilometer, and the stage was done.

Tour de France stage 19 results