Tour de France 2019: stage 19 – live!

Jonathan Dando writes:

I love this Tour … it’s brilliant. For the first time in years it feels like it’s about the ‘sport’. There isn’t anyone in the top 10 I would not like to see win.

We all want to see a French winner, just for the love of the event, but who would complain if we also see a Colombian or Welsh winner?

Despite all the money it’s still the only event/sport which lets the fans in. People want to get dressed up as a polka-dot sperm to run up the hill with the cyclists. I would love to see that in football.

Oh my days. Can you imagine polka-dot-clad sperm running up and down the line with the officials at the football? Make it happen Uefa.

And you didn’t think I’d missed that surname, did you? Did you really? I’ll be less obvious and give you a version of the original though …

Quick reminder of yesterday’s events …

Geraint Thomas chased a fierce attack by his Team Ineos teammate Egan Bernal, yet still lost second place overall to the Colombian as the tension in the Tour de France ramped up another notch and the unflappable Julian Alaphilippe again clung on to his overall lead.

Bernal, widely tipped for victory before the Tour began, was finally unleashed by Team Ineos in the thin air on the approach to the 2,642-metre summit of the Col du Galibier as his fellow Colombian Nairo Quintana rode clear on his own to a third career stage win in the Tour.

“It was Geraint’s decision,” Bernal said of his attack. “He asked me to attack to try to move the race and tried to come with me but when he saw the other guys on his wheel he just stayed with them. But I attacked because he asked me to attack.”

Jeremy Whittle’s full report here …

Jakob Mathiszig-Lee is first into the inbox today …

I have a night shift tonight which is great because it means i have the whole of today to watch what should be an amazing stage.

Here on Guardian sport there is occasionally a pleasing wefting of early sport and late shift. It can be a beautiful thing. Sorry, do continue …

Think there’s going to be some fireworks from pretty early on today after Alaphilippe showed some uphill weakness yesterday. Head says Bernal is wearing yellow in Paris but would very much like to see Julian hold on to it today so i can see how half of France fits on to roadside of the final climb tomorrow.

He’s not that fussed about yellow. Literally gave it away yesterday before giving interviews (beautiful moment, incidentally) …

Now I won’t lie to you, the first minute of this video may be a slight slog if hi-NRG Europop isn’t your bag.

But from 1:01 … oh mama …

1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 75hrs 18mins 49sec
2 Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos +1:30
3 Geraint Thomas (GB) Ineos +1:35
4 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma +1:47
5 Thibaut Pinot (Fr) Groupama-FDJ +1:50
6 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe +2:14
7 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar +3:54
8 Mikel Landa (Sp) Movistar+4:54
9 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First +5:33
10 Alejandro Valverde (Sp) Movistar +5:58secs
11 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo +6:30
12 Warren Barguil (Fr) Arkea Samsic +7:47
13 Guillaume Martin (Fr) Wanty-Gobert +15:11
14 Fabio Aru (It) UAE Team Emirates +16:21
15 Roman Kreuziger (Cz) Dimension Data +17:00

Selected others
19 Daniel Martin (Ire) UAE Team Emirates +34:23
27 Adam Yates (GB) Mitchelton-Scott +49:35
33 Nicolas Roche (Ire) Sunweb +1hr:05:40

And so, the Tour hits the roof. This year’s toppermost peak arrives, the Col de l’Iseran, 2,770m above sea level, for the literal highlight of the first of two remaining mountain stages. Today is beautifully set up, with aspirant GC contenders knowing they’re running out of road this year. They have a very real need to get a wiggle on.

A couple of blips aside, Julian Alaphilippe has looked utterly at home in yellow since first donning it after stage 8, and unless yesterday’s struggles over the Galibier left him more sapped than it appeared, one or more of the chasing pack need to pull out something memorable.

Alaphilippe’s descending prowess could push them to even bigger efforts on today’s climbs – yesterday’s fightback on the downhill was a soil-yourself piece of riding by the Frenchman, as he rounded parked motorhomes so tightly on hairpin bends that you feared someone had convinced him they’re all holograms. It may take a career-pinnacle up-and-down effort from the likes of Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas and Thibaut Pinot to go into Saturday with any chance still remaining.

Bernal goes into today his closest challenger, as he lies 1min 30 behind the Frenchman, defending champion Thomas is five seconds behind his Ineos teammate in third. Steven Kruijswijk is at 1:47, three seconds ahead of Pinot.

Eyes suddenly look beyond Emanuel Buchmann (2:14) in sixth to see if Nairo Quintana can repeat yesterday’s trick with the altitude holding no fears and a deficit that’s suddenly down to 3:54 from a previously-unlikely 9:30. If the Colombian makes a break for it early on, expect mayhem behind. He jumped from 12th to seventh yesterday.

First to the top of the Iseran gets the Souvenir Henri-Desgrange, the award handed out for those leading the way over the Tour’s biggest climb each year. Point of order: Quintana won it last year after a superb climb up Col du Portet.

Good morning folks. What a day we have in store.

Uphill for the first (gulp) 89km, this stage is about one climb, the Col de l’Iséran, the “roof of the Tour” at 2,770m above sea level. It’s rarely used in the race, and still less frequently at the key point in a stage. It will make it hard for a break to stay away, but teams will fire any domestiques with any strength left up the road to support their leaders later – Movistar particularly like this tactic – and the finish will be about who of a very select group has anything left on the short climb to Tignes. Egan Bernal might be the best candidate depending on Ineos’s tactics.