Tour de France 2016 Stage 19: Bardet solos to victory, Froome retains yellow

At 146 kilometres, stage 19 is an explosive race. The closing climb up to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc is a 9.8 kilometres toil at 8%. Romain Bardet attacks just before hitting the climb and he soloes to victory. Chris Froome retains in yellow, while runner-up Bauke Mollema crashes and drops to 10th place overall. Bardet now sits in second and Nairo Quintana in third. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 19th stage Tour de France

1. Romain Bardet (fra)
2. Joaquim Rodriguez (spa) + 0.22
3. Alejandro Valverde (spa) s.t.
4. Louis Meintjes (rsa) s.t.
5. Nairo Quintana (col) + 0.24
6. Fabio Aru (ita) + 0.26
7. Daniel Martin (irl) + 0.28
8. Wout Poels (nld) + 0.35
9. Chris Froome (gbr) s.t.
10. Richie Porte (aus) + 0.53

13. Adam Yates (gbr) + 0.56
16. Sergio Henao (col) + 1.57
17. Roman Kreuziger (cze) + 1.58
23. Bauke Mollema (nld) + 4.25

GC after stage 19
1. Chris Froome (gbr)
2. Romain Bardet (fra) + 4.11
3. Nairo Quintana (col) + 4.27
4. Adam Yates (gbr) + 4.46
5. Richie Porte (aus) + 5.17
6. Fabio Aru (ita) + 6.00
7. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 6.20
8. Louis Meintjes (rsa) + 7.02
9. Daniel Martin (irl) + 7.10
10. Bauke Mollema (nld) + 7.42

11. Joaquim Rodriguez (spa) + 7.52
12. Roman Kreuziger (cze) + 9.45
13. Sergio Henao (col) + 18.51

Race report
The official start is at the foot of Collet de Tamié and Thomas De Gendt accelerates straight away. King of the mountains Majka joins him, along with Jarlinson Pantano, Pierre Rolland, Rui Costa and 15 other riders. They race to a lead of almost 5 minutes.

In the peloton Nibali, Rosa and Tiralongo speed up, while Rodriguez hooks up. More riders cross over until the pack is bunched again.

De Gendt is the first to crest Col de la Forclaz de Montmin, ahead of Majka and Vuillermoz. The trio pushes on, yet in the valley the other escapees re-join them. De Gendt is the first rider on top of Forclaz de Queige, too, once again ahead of Majka.

At Montée de Bisanne the escapees’ gain is lingering at 2’30” when Majka speeds up, bisecting the the front group. The Pole is the first to crest the Bidane and he wins the KOM-classification in the 2016 Tour de France. In the pack Tom Dumulin hits the tarmac and the Olympic ITT-favourite abandons.

At a slope after the top Rolland attacks and Costa joins him. A little later the Frenchman crashes in a descent, which leaves Costa solo up front.

The roads are wet by now and crashes are everywhere. Mollema is a prominent victim and he is forced to chase. Froome hits the tarmac, too, but he is still in the group with GC-riders. At the front Cherel and Bardet launch a duo-attack.

When hitting the steep first kilometres of the closing climb Bardet leaves Cherel to join Costa after a 1 kilometre chase. Mollema can’t bridge the gap to the group Froome.

With 3 kms left Bardet goes solo. Richie Porte, Dan Martin and Fabio Aru attack in the group with favourites, but without getting clear. Adam Yates is dropped due to the changes in pace and a little later Porte has to pay for his efforts and has to let go, too.

Bardet soloes to victory and second place, while Nairo Quintana jumps to third place at the expense of Adam Yates.

Bauke Mollema nosedives to tenth place.