Friday, July 24th, 19th stage: Gap > Alpe d’Huez – The attackers looked set to battle for another stage win on Friday, stage 19 of the Tour de France 2026, but, once again, there was no resisting Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates XRG) when the Maillot Jaune holder set off on the mythical slopes of Alpe d’Huez. The Slovenian star attacked his GC rivals 13 kilometres from the summit and caught up to Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) inside the last 3 kilometres. He distanced them as he entered the final kilometre, eventually claiming his fifth victory in this edition, his 26th since his debut in the race in 2020. He passes André Leducq (25 stage wins) and moves closer to Mark Cavendish (35), Eddy Merckx(34) and Bernard Hinault (28). Alpe d’Huez will also host stage 20’s finish on the eve of Sunday’s Paris grand finale.
Alpe d’Huez, First Ascent
After Orcières-Merlette, the peloton headed to another of the Tour’s most iconic venues: Alpe d’Huez, the site of the race’s first-ever mountaintop finish and its most frequently used summit finish. The 32nd finish atop Alpe d’Huez came after the legendary 13.8-kilometre climb, featuring its 21 hairpins and an average gradient of 8.1%.
Paret-Peintre vs. Carapaz: The Battle Continued
The opening climb of the Col Bayard (4.7 km at 7.2%) immediately split the peloton, with a breakaway of 42 riders forming. The group included 11 Tour stage winners: Richard Carapaz, joined by EF Education-EasyPost teammates Ben Healy, Sean Quinn and Alex Baudin; Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos); Adam Yates (UAE Emirates XRG); Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike); Michael Matthews and Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla); Ion Izagirre (Cofidis); green jersey holder Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek); and polka-dot jersey wearer Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step). Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), seventh overall at 12:50 down, was the best-placed rider on general classification.
The fight for the mountains classification dominated the opening climbs to the Col Bayard (km 4.8) and the Col du Noyer (km 25.2). Paret-Peintre outsprinted Carapaz at both summits to move into the lead of the King of the Mountains competition.
The Breakaway Splintered
The yellow jersey group crossed the Col du Noyer four minutes behind the leaders before UAE Emirates XRG and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe increased the pace in pursuit. Up front, however, several contenders still had teammates sacrificing themselves to preserve their chances of victory on Alpe d’Huez.
The advantage reached a maximum of 4:25 at the intermediate sprint in Le Périer (km 89.4), where Pedersen claimed maximum points to extend his lead over Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) in the green jersey standings to 57 points.
The breakaway began to fragment on the Category 2 Col d’Ornon. Paret-Peintre was dropped, while Carapaz crested the summit first. Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike) then drove the pace through the valley to the foot of Alpe d’Huez, where the leaders started the final climb with a 3:25 advantage.
Pogačar Claimed No. 26
Richard Carapaz, Durango, Colorado’s Sepp Kuss and Lenny Martinez quickly emerged as the strongest climbers at the front. Behind them, Tadej Pogačar attacked with 13 kilometres remaining, distancing his general classification rivals. He soon bridged across to teammate Adam Yates, who briefly contributed before the Slovenian continued alone.
At the front, Carapaz launched repeated attacks. Martinez responded each time, while Kuss fought back after each acceleration. The trio never established a smooth collaboration, allowing Pogačar to close rapidly. Carapaz made one final acceleration three kilometres from the summit but was reeled in a kilometre later by Pogačar and Martinez. Pogačar surged again inside the final kilometre, dropping both riders to claim his 26th Tour de France stage victory and his first atop Alpe d’Huez. Martinez took second in the sprint over Carapaz, and Kuss rolled in later to fourth.
Behind him, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) gained several seconds on Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG) and a slightly larger margin over Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) ahead of the Tour’s final mountain stage.
Pogačar reflects, “It’s very cool to win up here. It was a crazy atmosphere on the whole climb. It’s thanks to all the team that I could pull it off. I was riding for my teammates today. I’m super happy to take the win.
When I heard some of the guys dropped when Felix [Grossschartner] was setting a really good pace at the beginning of the climb… I mean, we were already going full gas the climb before, and I knew I had good legs and there were not many guys left to follow, so I tried in the first kilometres up Alpe d’Huez. Then I committed to the top. Adam [Yates] was there, it gave me a big moral boost. I was super happy to see he was back after feeling so bad earlier this week. I was super happy to ride behind him for a couple of kilometres. I had to fight against super good riders, but they were playing against each other a bit so it helped me to catch up and win the stage.
I go day by day and tomorrow is the queen stage of the Tour. And then I hope for a nice day in Paris, super shiny. But tomorrow is the hardest day of the Tour. Now, we’ve won, and tomorrow we see. We’ll follow our own plan, our own rhythm. We don’t care about anything else. We just stick together and do our best as a team. And then we see what happens. Today was my day to go for the stage win. And tomorrow we make sure that Isaac [del Toro] fights for this beautiful white jersey and the podium.”
Tadej Smashes the L’Alpe d’Huez Climbing record:
Pogačar recorded a time of 35 minutes and 26 seconds for the ascent of the iconic 21 switchbacks, smashing the record set by Marco Pantani in 1997 of 37m 35s (23.08 km/h) (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpe_d%27Huez#Cycle_racing).
Stage 19 Results:
| 1 | T. POGACAR | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 03h 17′ 57” | – | B : 10” | – |
| 2 | L. MARTINEZ | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 03h 18′ 03” | + 00h 00′ 06” | B : 6” | – |
| 3 | R. CARAPAZ | EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST | 03h 18′ 06” | + 00h 00′ 09” | B : 4” | – |
| 4 | S. KUSS | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 03h 19′ 11” | + 00h 01′ 14” | – | – |
| 5 | T. JOHANNESSEN | UNO-X MOBILITY | 03h 20′ 04” | + 00h 02′ 07” | – | – |
| 6 | R. EVENEPOEL | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 03h 20′ 26” | + 00h 02′ 29” | – | – |
| 7 | I. DEL TORO | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 03h 20′ 38” | + 00h 02′ 41” | – | – |
| 8 | M. SKJELMOSE | LIDL-TREK | 03h 20′ 42” | + 00h 02′ 45” | – | – |
| 9 | P. SEIXAS | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | 03h 20′ 42” | + 00h 02′ 45” | – | – |
| 10 | H. TEJADA | XDS ASTANA TEAM | 03h 21′ 19” | + 00h 03′ 22” | – | – |
General Classification after Stage 19:
| 1 | T. POGACAR | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 67h 53′ 00” | – | B : 01′ 02” | – |
| 2 | R. EVENEPOEL | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 68h 00′ 11” | + 00h 07′ 11” | B : 20” | – |
| 3 | I. DEL TORO | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 68h 02′ 42” | + 00h 09′ 42” | B : 24” | – |
| 4 | P. SEIXAS | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | 68h 03′ 06” | + 00h 10′ 06” | B : 8” | – |
| 5 | L. MARTINEZ | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 68h 06′ 00” | + 00h 13′ 00” | B : 6” | – |
| 6 | M. SKJELMOSE | LIDL-TREK | 68h 06′ 09” | + 00h 13′ 09” | – | – |
| 7 | J. AYUSO | LIDL-TREK | 68h 08′ 58” | + 00h 15′ 58” | – | – |
| 8 | R. CARAPAZ | EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST | 68h 14′ 15” | + 00h 21′ 15” | B : 18” | – |
| 9 | T. PIDCOCK | PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM | 68h 14′ 30” | + 00h 21′ 30” | B : 8” | P : 20” |
| 10 | J. JEGAT | TOTALENERGIES | 68h 16′ 21” | + 00h 23′ 21” | – | – |
