Tadej Pogacar within touching distance of Tour de France title after stunning win

UAE Team Emirates riders clinches dramatic win in mountain stage on Friday

UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogacar celebrates on the podium with the overall leader's yellow jersey after winning the 19th stage of the Tour de France on Friday, July 19, 2024. AFP

UAE Team Emirates' Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar after winning the 19th stage of Tour de France. AFP

Tadej Pogacar celebrates his fourth stage win of the year. EPA

UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogacar rides ahead of Soudal Quick-Step rider Remco Evenepoel during Stage 19. AFP

Tadej Pogacar crosses the finish line to win the 19th stage of the Tour de France. AFP

UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogacar celebrates after winning Stage 19. Reuters

Tadej Pogacar is on the brink of winning the Tour de France. AP

Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 19 - Embrun to Isola 2000 - Embrun, France - July 19, 2024 UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogacar celebrates winning stage 19 REUTERS / Stephane Mahe

Soudal Quick-Step rider Remco Evenepoel, centre, is flanked by Team Visma - Lease rider Jonas Vingegaard, left, and Tadej Pogacar. AFP

Riders during stage 19 of the Tour de France. EPA

UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogacar took a giant step towards clinching a third Tour de France title after winning another tough mountain stage on Friday.

Pogacar climbed to a convincing victory on stage 19, extending his overall lead over defending champion Jonas Vingegaard.

With two stages remaining, the 2020 and 2021 champion Pogacar leads Vingegaard by over five minutes, while Remco Evenepoel remains third at around seven minutes.

After six riders broke away, it was Matteo Jorgenson who made the first move to surge ahead, but with 10 km left, Richard Carapaz looked to catch up to the American with Simon Yates not too far behind.

Pogacar had been following three minutes back and he launched his attack less than nine km from the finish, leaving Vingegaard and Evenepoel behind.

As Vingegaard and Evenepoel battled it out for second place in the overall standings, Pogacar was on a mission to catch up to Jorgensen as he pedalled furiously and passed Olympic champion Carapaz with 3.5 km left and Yates 500 metres later.

Jorgenson had done well to hold on to his advantage for as long as he could but he could only watch as Pogacar passed him with ease, erasing the three-minute gap within the last few kilometres of the stage.

Pogacar eventually crossed the line all by himself, raising his fists before taking a bow with his arms outstretched and then showing four fingers - the number of stages he has won this year.

It looks like only some drastic misfortune over the final weekend can deny the 25-year-old a third Tour crown and stop Pogacar from becoming the first man to complete the Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.

"I'm super happy that I had good legs today," Pogacar said. "We were here training for a whole month between the Giro and the Tour, it was a hard period, every day you need to go up the climb, so we knew it well and I was planning with my team-mates already how we wanted to race this day.

"We did it exactly like we said, it went 100 per cent perfect.

"It's looking better than ever. I'm super happy, it's quite a margin now and tomorrow I can just enjoy the stage, let the breakaway go and maybe enjoy the roads where we were training. Let's enjoy tomorrow and hope nothing serious happens."

Pogacar said he was running on empty towards the end but decided to push through as victory was within sight.

"I was a little bit empty in the last 2 km. When I caught Carapaz and Simon Yates, there was already a limit. But then when I see that Matteo was also losing a bit, I tried to push through.

"And then when I tried to pass him with the speed a little bit, I killed my legs. And then I was thinking maybe he will come back and out-sprint me or something. He was really strong today, chapeau to Matteo and all the breakaway guys."

The Tour's penultimate stage on Saturday is another mountain stage, a 133 km ride from Nice to Col de la Couillole, before Sunday's time trial from Monaco to Nice.

Stage 19 winners

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates): 4:04:03

2. Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma - Lease a Bike): +21

3. Simon Yates (Team Jayco - AlUla): +40

4. Richard Carapaz ((EF Education - EasyPost): +1:11

5. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick-Step): +1:42

Overall leaders

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates): 78:49:20

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma - Lease a Bike): +5:03

3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick-Step): +7:01

4. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates): +15:07

5. Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick-Step): +15:34