Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team) made amends for a disappointing ride in the Pyrenees with an attacking ride to win the stage finishing at La Toussuire. Nibali attacked the yellow jersey group with 62km to go as Chris Froome momentarily stopped to clear a stone from his brakes. Nibali caught lone leader Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar) and then leaped away on the final climb to La Toussuire.
While Vincenzo Nibali was up the road racing to the stage win Nairo Quintana was attacking Chris Froome as Froome was again isolated from his Sky Team, Sky had earlier dropped a number of riders including Richie Porte on the wet ascent of the Col du Chaussy,they re-grouped on the flat run to the Croix de Fer. Quintana finished second on the stage gaining 30 seconds back on the lead of Chris Froome to now sit 2:38 behind in second overall.
Geraint Thomas lost 22 minutes to the leaders to drop right out of podium contention, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde and Robert Gesink all finished in the same group at 2:26 behind Nibali. Nibali has moved up to fourth place 1:19 behind Valverde. Romain Bardet took over the lead in the mountains classification while Peter Sagan still leads the points classification
Watch video highlights below and a quick twitter clip showing the moment Italian Champion Vincenzo Nibali takes off as Froome is in trouble.
Nibali is getting a lot of flak for attacking when he did but when I see the video, Nibali’s comments and Froome’s comment I can’t help but recall the quote from Nathan Haas a week ago “It is the Tour de France, man. We are not here to lick stamps”
Asi ha sido el problema mecanico de Froome y el posterior ataque de Nibali. #TourTVE #TDF pic.twitter.com/fIJnFwRHrT
— Espacio Ciclista (@EspacioCiclista) July 24, 2015
Stage 19 Video Highlights
Summary – Stage 19 (Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne… by tourdefrance_en
Results
Top 50 Stage 19 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne – La Touissure 138km
| Place | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team | 4:22:53 |
| 2 | Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team | 0:00:44 |
| 3 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky | 0:01:14 |
| 4 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr | 0:02:26 |
| 5 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 6 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | |
| 7 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing | |
| 8 | Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
| 9 | Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
| 10 | Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team | |
| 11 | Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:02:35 |
| 12 | Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | 0:04:17 |
| 13 | Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Lampre-Merida | 0:04:53 |
| 14 | Mathias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling | 0:05:02 |
| 15 | Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
| 16 | Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky | 0:06:23 |
| 17 | Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo | 0:08:05 |
| 18 | Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team | |
| 19 | Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar | |
| 20 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
| 21 | Serge Pauwels (Bel) MTN – Qhubeka | 0:09:52 |
| 22 | José Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:10:53 |
| 23 | Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:11:41 |
| 24 | Jan Barta (Cze) Bora-Argon 18 | |
| 25 | Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 26 | Merhawi Kudus Ghebremedhin (Eri) MTN – Qhubeka | |
| 27 | Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement | 0:12:53 |
| 28 | Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team | 0:13:03 |
| 29 | Romain Sicard (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:13:55 |
| 30 | Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:15:02 |
| 31 | Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling | 0:15:12 |
| 32 | Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling | |
| 33 | Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) MTN – Qhubeka | |
| 34 | Jarlinson Pantano (Col) IAM Cycling | |
| 35 | Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing | 0:21:13 |
| 36 | Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
| 37 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:22:00 |
| 38 | Michael Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
| 39 | Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal | |
| 40 | Reto Hollenstein (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
| 41 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement | |
| 42 | Paul Voss (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 | |
| 43 | Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
| 44 | Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
| 45 | Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
| 46 | Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
| 47 | Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Lampre-Merida | |
| 48 | Bryan Coquard (Fra) Team Europcar | |
| 49 | Angelo Tulik (Fra) Team Europcar | |
| 50 | Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha |
Top 20 General Classification Tour de France after Stage 19
| Place | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky | 78:37:34 |
| 2 | Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team | 0:02:38 |
| 3 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:05:25 |
| 4 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team | 0:06:44 |
| 5 | Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo | 0:07:56 |
| 6 | Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | 0:08:55 |
| 7 | Mathias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling | 0:12:39 |
| 8 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing | 0:13:22 |
| 9 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:14:08 |
| 10 | Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:17:27 |
| 11 | Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | 0:18:25 |
| 12 | Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team | 0:19:27 |
| 13 | Serge Pauwels (Bel) MTN – Qhubeka | 0:26:48 |
| 14 | Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:27:00 |
| 15 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky | 0:27:24 |
| 16 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr | 0:40:40 |
| 17 | Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo | 0:57:49 |
| 18 | Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:59:26 |
| 19 | Jarlinson Pantano (Col) IAM Cycling | 0:59:42 |
| 20 | Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | 1:12:21 |
The final mountain stage is short at only 110.5km so we should see some explosive racing on what is the last real stage of the 2015 Tour de France, stage 20 starts with a downhill run to the base of the HC Col de la Croix de Fer, after that climb there is a flat run to the famous Alpe d’Huez.
Tour de France Stage report by TBL – The Bike Lane
