Pogacar wins Tour de France stage 19 with solo attack on Alpe d'Huez

Tadej Pogacar claimed a stunning victory on Friday's 19th stage of the Tour de France, finishing atop Alpe d'Huez after a tense chase up the legendary climb. The two-time champion launched his attack with 12 kilometers remaining, catching Richard Carapaz and Lenny Martinez inside the final two kilometers. He then dropped them with just 800 meters to go, crossing the line alone. It was the fifth stage win this year for the 27-year-old Slovenian, and his 26th since his Tour debut in 2020. Remarkably, it was Pogacar's first ever victory on Alpe d'Huez—a surprising statistic for a rider who has dominated cycling for the past six years. Martinez finished second, six seconds behind Pogacar, while Carapaz, who had won stage 18 the previous day, placed third, nine seconds adrift. Pogacar extended his overall lead to more than seven minutes over Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who finished the stage sixth, two and a half minutes down. Evenepoel managed to eke out a few more seconds over third-placed Isaac Del Toro, who in turn increased his buffer over fourth-placed Paul Seixas. Del Toro now sits 9 minutes 42 seconds behind, with Seixas at 10 minutes 6 seconds, meaning their battle for the best young rider's white jersey will continue into Saturday's decisive penultimate stage. Martinez moved up to fifth overall, just nine seconds ahead of Mattias Skjelmose, who finished the stage in eighth, 2 minutes 45 seconds back.