Stage 19 saw Christophe Laporte claim his first plushie on a Tour de France podium to give Jumbo-Visma their fifth victory and the French their first. Can you hear La Marseillaise? The flying French Jumbo Bee jumped to the three man leading group in the last kilometre, then surged in the finale to come over the line with sheer disbelief and joy written large on his face. In a missed opportunity for the fast men, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) pipped Team DSM’s Alberto Dainese for second place in the bunch sprint. Despite some nervous moments for due echelon action, ill timed mechanicals and yet another protest, the GC remains unchanged. Not that it stopped Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team-Emirates) from trying his luck to grab a few seconds back on the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard along the way.
The route to Cahors was one of those stages where it’s rolling enough to make the legs hurt, yet flat enough to tempt the sprinter teams. Yet again the action was fast and furious from the start as the sprint teams were in no mood to let this chance slip away. The early breakaway was kept on a short leash and eventually brought to heel.
This happened…
Split in the peloton https://t.co/AIN9HjIHR5 #TDF2022
— Radio Tour EN 🇬🇧 (@radiotour_en) July 15, 2022
Peloton split in 2 after a descent more than real echelons tbh. Only Jakobsen and Pedersen caight behind, but both aren't looking great anyway for the stage
— Jens Dekker (@jens_dekker) July 22, 2022
This happened – because Pog can’t help himself
POGI ATTACKS! #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/OZ1WhAucSr
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) July 22, 2022
With 31km to go Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) went clear with Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM), Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious)
After several attempts, a trio has managed to get a lead:
Après plusieurs attaques, un trio s'est détaché en tête de course :
🇫🇷 Alexis Gougeard
🇬🇧 @fred_wright0
🇧🇪 @Jasperstuyven #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/QhDTf1hAEy— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 22, 2022
Lotto Soudal, Total Direct Energies Bike Exchange-Jayco, Alpecin-Deceuninck kept the pressure on but the gap wasn’t coming down fast enough.
👊With 10km to go, the leaders still have a 11" lead!
👊À 10km de l'arrivée, les trois hommes de tête n'ont plus que 11" d'avance !#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/3xS3iseWnA
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 22, 2022
It wasn’t until Super Wout came to front and did his thing to keep the yellow jersey safe and bring Laporte into play that the distance shrunk.
5km to go! the gap is at 10" with 💚 @woutvanaert leading the peloton for 🇫🇷 Christophe Laporte!
L'écart entre le peloton et le trio de tête est de 10" ! 💚@WoutvanAert fait le travail pour 🇫🇷@LAPORTEChristop !#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/ymwaYtrDVR
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 22, 2022
Laporte jumped to the lead three. Under the Flamme Rouge and Fred Wright put in a monster pull to break free (I LOVE FRED WRIGHT!).
"I saw the opportunity and I went for it".
Fred Wright spoke to Daniel after agonisingly missing out on stage 19.#TDF2022 #ITVCycling pic.twitter.com/WJLkujGTII
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 22, 2022
Fred Wright though. Take a bow young man. Pure guts, yet again. One of my favourite riders from this Tour #TDF2022
— Katy M – Tour mode 🇫🇷💛 (@writebikerepeat) July 22, 2022
Fred Wright is going to win something enormous soon and it’s going to be magical
— Will Strickson (@WillStrickson) July 22, 2022
Stuyven countered, effectively playing lead out for the Frenchman who leapt past all of them for his win.
Christophe Laporte!
The French finally get their stage win; what a finish!
Hats off to Alexis Gougeard, Fred Wright & Jasper Stuyven for electrifying the final 30km of Stage 19.
And credit @millarmind for spotting what Jumbo-Visma were doing; nabbed Laporte at 11s 😄 #TDF2022
— Blaynos (@Blaynos14) July 22, 2022
Here’s your highlights…
Your Jumbo-Visma Winner of the Day – Christophe Laporte!
There is something special about this Jumbo-Visma team. They are a band-of-brothers, riding for each other, backing each other up when things don’t go quite to plan and sharing the spoils.
They were thrilled with Christophe’s win
🤩 @LAPORTEChristop still couldn’t believe what he’d done after the finish!
🤩 @LAPORTEChristop avait du mal à réaliser ce qu'il venait d'accomplir juste après l'arrivée !#TDF2022 | @Continental_fr pic.twitter.com/hBlRDU6Nfn
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 22, 2022
When Wout tells you it’s your day, and then rides his green socks off to make it so
"Wout said to me, 'Today is for you'".
Christophe Laporte spoke to Matt after taking France's first stage win of the Tour and Jumbo-Visma's 5th.#TDF2022 #ITVCycling pic.twitter.com/5a8gPN2crB
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 22, 2022
🎙💚 @WoutvanAert
"I've told him multiple times already, he doesn’t know how strong he is!"#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/uXjLggUlei
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 22, 2022
Nicolas Portal
The race passed through Auch today, home of Nico Portal, the French lead DS behind so many of Team Sky’s victories. He is still missed.
The Tour remembering the beautiful soul of a man that is Nico Portal ❤️
— Orlala Chennaoui 🇫🇷 🚲 (@SportsOrla) July 22, 2022
Nico, always with us ❤️
Merci, Auch pic.twitter.com/esHfHtN7N1
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) July 22, 2022
The last word
TT day tomorrow – this one is for you ed.
We are passionate artisans & quality always comes first. Jonas, @WoutvanAert, @TamauPogi, you're in good hands with Monica, Rosita & Raffaella
Rosita is our stitching department director with 34 years of experience. She's known as "the Teacher", so you better listen Rosita 😁 pic.twitter.com/oguUSNcsWO
— Santini Cycling (@SANTINI_SMS) July 22, 2022
Results
Stage 18 results
1 Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) 3:52:04
2 Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:01
3 Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) same time
4 Florian Senechal (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) s.t
5 Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) s.t
GC Top 10
1 Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 75:35:49
2 Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +3:26
3 Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +8:00
4 David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +11:05
5 Nairo Quintana (Team Arkea-Samsic) +13:35
6 Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) +13:43
7 Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe) +14:10
8 Romain Bardet (Team DSM) +16:11
9 Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +20:29
10 Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) +20:37
All the jerseys
🎽 Jerseys after stage 19 / Maillots distinctifs après l'étape 19
💛 Jonas Vingegaard
💚 @WoutvanAert
🔴 Jonas Vingegaard
👶 @TamauPogi #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/X3ElEptiv5— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 22, 2022
Leader’s jersey : Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)
Points jersey : Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)
King of the Mountains jersey : Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)
Young Rider Jersey : Tadej Pogacar (UAE)
Team competition : INEOS Grenadiers
For the full stage review, go to cyclingnews
Go here for the official Tour de France website