Tour de France 2018 Stage 19: Roglic solos to victory, Thomas regains yellow

The Tour de France's Queen Stages travels over the Aspin, Tourmalet, Bordères, Soulor and Aubisque to end with a fast descent into Laruns. Landa, Bardet and Zakarin strike as early as the Tourmalet, but they are brought back on the Aubisque before Roglic strikes. He opens up a gap on descent and solos to victory. Froome drops behind the Slovenian, who now sits in third. Thomas is still leading La Grande Boucle ahead of Dumoulin. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 19th stage 2018 Tour de France

1. Primoz Roglic (slo)
2. Geraint Thomas (gbr) + 0.19
3. Romain Bardet (fra) s.t.
4. Daniel Martin (irl) s.t.
5. Rafal Majka (pol) s.t.
6. Tom Dumoulin (nld) s.t.
7. Mikel Landa (spa) s.t.
8. Chris Froome (gbr) s.t.
9. Steven Kruijswijk (nld) + 0.31
10. Ilnur Zakarin (rus) s.t.

19. Nairo Quintana (col) + 7.09

GC after the 19th stage
1. Geraint Thomas (gbr)
2. Tom Dumoulin (nld) + 2.05
3. Primoz Roglic (slo) + 2.24
4. Chris Froome (gbr) + 2.37
5. Steven Kruijswijk (nld) + 4.37
6. Mikel Landa (spa) + 4.40
7. Romain Bardet (fra) + 5.15
8. Daniel Martin (irl) + 6.39
9. Nairo Quintana (col) + 10.26
10. Ilnur Zakarin (rus) + 11.49

Race report
Kristjan Koren and Marcus Burghardt are the first attackers before Postlberger, Dillier and Gaudin take over. Following a 20 kms chase Kangert, Yates and Jungels join the front group, while Julian Alaphilippe, Warren Barguil, Sylvain Chavanel, Gorka Izagirre, Arthur Vichot, Andrey Amador, Bauke Mollema, Tom-Jelte Slagter, Romain Hardy, Daniele Bennati, Marcus Burghardt and Mikel Nieve regain contact before the Aspin. KOM leader Alaphilippe is the first rider over the top with eleven riders in his wheel.

Zakarin and Landa strike on the Tourmalet and Bardet joins them before Majka and Fuglsang also bridge across. Landa and Majka head out together, but Bardet and Zakarin regain contact in the last 2 kms of the climb.

Alaphilippe is the first rider over the Tourmalet with Kangert, Jungels, Barguil, Izagirre and Nieve close behind. Landa et al crest the peak 45 seconds later and the group Thomas/Dumoulin/Froome is almost 3 minutes behind the six leaders.

Amador waits for his team mate Landa and leads the chasers on the descent and in the valley. With 63 kms to go they rejoin the front group.

Bardet accelerates just before the Col de Bordères, while Landa and Majka chase him down. The others regroup on the actual climb, although KOM winner Alaphilippe drops a little later. Barguil and Nieve don’t reach the top with the front group either.

Robert Gesink sets the pace in the GC group to pull the Landa/Bardet attack back to less than 2 minutes.

The attackers crest the Bordères 1.43 ahead of the yellow jersey group. Zakarin drops on the descent, but regains contact on the Soulor. Steven Kruijswijk kicks in the main group, while Landa strikes with 35 kms out. Bardet and Majka join him. On the lower slopes Dumoulin speeds up and Quintana is distanced. Froome is struggling when the Dutchman strikes again.

With a series of attacks Roglic distances Froome, while Thomas and Dumoulin remain in his wheel. The three rejoin Kruijswijk before they gobble up Jungels and Izagirre.

Landa, Bardet, Majka and Zakarin crest the Soulor half a minute ahead of Thomas, Dumoulin, Roglic, Kruijswijk, Jungels and Izagirre. Froome is another 30 seconds back and Quintana is 3 minutes down on the leaders.

Just before the Aubisque Froome, Bernal and Martin rejoin the maillot jaune group. Majka goes alone and Roglic bridges across to Landa and Bardet. He pushes hard, but Dumoulin comes clawing back. Froome is struggling and Roglic kicks again, only to see Dumoulin closing the gap. Froome is suffering but still holding on, while Thomas is rock solid following the Dutchman’s wheel.

Majka makes it to the summit first but the GC riders are just behind him. Roglic takes the lead on the descent with Dumoulin behind. Thomas is in third position.

Roglic opens up a gap on descent, which he widens to 20 seconds in the valley. He holds off the chasers to not only win the stage, but also move up into third on GC. Thomas sprints to second place, distancing Dumoulin with another 6 (bonus) seconds. Froome slips to fourth and Kruijswijk moves into fifth place as Quintana loses 7 minutes.

Tomorrow’s hilly ITT will be interesting as the three best time trialists at the Worlds will be fighting for the podium. Dumoulin, Roglic and Froome are only 32 seconds apart.