Egan Bernal passed first at col d’Iseran where the times of stage 19 were eventually taken as stormy conditions put the race to a halt because of huge amounts of hail on the road in the downhill. He was declared the winner and became the third Colombian to take the yellow jersey after Victor Hugo Peña in 2003 and Fernando Gaviria last year. Julian Alaphilippe is second. Thibaut Pinot has abandoned.
Nibali in a 29-man leading group
156 riders started stage 19 in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. After 4km of racing and a demanding uphill start, Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Pello Bilbao (Astana), Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) on the day of his 29th birthday rode away. The front part of the peloton remained very active. The leading quartet was caught at km 35 by a group that escaped from the main bunch while Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) was in distress. Hampered by a left knee injury, the Frenchman who was fifth on GC had no choice but pull out at km 36. 29 riders formed the front group after 50km of racing: Dylan van Baarle (Ineos), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hasngrohe), Tony Gallopin (AG2R-La Mondiale), Vincenzo Nibali and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida), Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Alejandro Valverde, Marc Soler and Andrey Amador (Movistar), Pello Bilbao, Gorka Izagirre, Magnus Cort and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Laurens De Plus (Jumbo-Visma), Rigoberto Uran, Alberto Bettiol and Michael Woods (EF Education First), Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Dan Martin and Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates), Giulio Ciccone and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Michael Matthews (Sunweb), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Roman Kreuziger (Dimension Data), Warren Barguil and Elie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic).
Egan Bernal first at col d’Iseran
Team Ineos led the peloton strongly until AG2R-La Mondiale took over at the bottom of the col d’Iseran while the time difference was 1’40’’ after a maximum gap of two minutes had been recorded at km 60. Geraint Thomas attacked with 6.5km to go. It was the beginning of the assault to the yellow jersey. Barguil soloed at the front for a little while until Egan Bernal rode across to him 4.5km before the summit, followed by Nibali, S. Yates and Uran. Bernal dropped his opponents one by one to reach the top alone in the lead.
Storm in the downhill, race over prematurely
Because of a sudden storm, the road was impassable at km 112 in the downhill leading to Tignes. Huge amounts of nail and mass of rubble made it impossible for the race to continue. The times were taken at col d’Iseran. Therefore, Bernal who crested it first 2’07’’ before Alaphilipe is the new leader of the Tour de France with two days to go with an advantage of 45’’ over the Frenchman and 1’3’’ over Thomas. There is no stage winner for stage 19.
