Thymen Arensman exploits GC standoff to win Stage 19 at Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar closes on yellow jersey and Jonas Vingegaard left wondering

Only an unprecedented calamity can deny Tadej Pogacar a fourth Tour de France title after he cruised through the final test in the mountains, with the two bonus seconds he lost to Jonas Vingegaard in the finale immaterial. Thymen Arensman claimed a second stage win for Ineos Grenadiers, although it was only possible after a lack of courage behind. The high mountains are done and dusted.

Stage 19 highlights: Arensman takes chance as Pogacar cruises and Vingegaard waits too long

Video credit: TNT Sports

The human held out against the aliens – that was how the plucky Dutchman Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) described the finale of the sodden and shortened Stage 19 of the Tour de France as he held on for a second mountaintop win of the race by just two seconds over his extraterrestrial pursuers.

With yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and the polka dot jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) closing in after a series of attacks from the white jersey of Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), Arensman had just enough left in the tank to add an Alpine win at La Plagne to his Pyrenean success at Superbagneres last weekend.

For the first time in the 112th edition of the Tour, Denmark’s Vingegaard finally got the better of his big rival Pogacar as he crossed the line for second place with the Slovenian race leader on his back wheel. Bonus seconds sees the two-time champion cut his deficit to a still considerable 4'24" ahead of Saturday’s lumpy penultimate stage in the Jura hills.

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"Everyone knows that Tadej and Jonas are the strongest in the world – they’re almost like aliens. And just as a human, I still want to try to beat them," an exhausted but content Arensman said after his victory.

"I just can’t believe that I did beat them today. I tried to not look behind and go as fast as I could – and it was just enough. It’s crazy."

German youngster Lipowitz settled for fourth place but seemingly secured the white jersey and the final spot on the podium after his late accelerations saw the elastic snap for Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL).

The young Scot crossed the line over 40 seconds back and is now unlikely to improve on his nevertheless impressive fourth place in the overall standings.

Arensman 'absolutely destroyed' after beating 'aliens' Vingegaard and Pogacar

Video credit: TNT Sports

Austria’s Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), meanwhile, rose into the top five at the expense of Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) after the Slovenian gambled big with an early bid to strike out in pursuit of a win on a stage that was shortened from 130km to just 93km over fears of a contagious cattle disease outbreak on one of the mountain passes.

Roglic was the big loser of the day, dropping to eighth place in the standings after crossing the line the best part of 13 minutes down.

Elsewhere, Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) all but secured the green jersey by winning the intermediate sprint, while Pogacar is one point away from mathematically guaranteeing the polka dot jersey along with the fourth yellow jersey of his illustrious career.

Milan’s pursuit of those green jersey points set the tone for the early part of the stage, with his Lidl-Trek team keeping a lid on matters until their man did what was expected ahead of Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) at the sprint, which came just 12km into the stage.

With the first of three climbs – the tough HC ascent of the Col du Pre – coming immediately after, Roglic made his early move with a metaphoric throwing of the kitchen sink in a bid to secure his first stage win on the Tour in five years.

Roglic soon formed a trio on the front of the race alongside French duo Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) and Ventoux victor Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), with the yellow jersey group around 30 seconds back and shedding numbers fast.

One day after his "sticky bidon" saw him docked eight points in the King of the Mountains classification, Martinez tried to revive his polka dot prospects by going over the top of the Col du Pre in pole position.

And, despite being dropped early on the Cat.2 Cormet de Roselend, the pint-sized Frenchman battled back to add another five points over the summit and move to within eight points of Pogacar’s lead in the KOM standings.

Heavy rain on the long descent of the Roselend changed the dynamic of the race as Roglic went around one minute clear of the pack, which swept up both Martinez and Paret-Peintre before the valley.

Roglic’s attempt to get something from this Tour was commendable, but the 35-year-old was eventually pegged back before the final ascent – and then promptly spat out as soon as the final 19km climb began.

Pogacar sent his lieutenants Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narvaez to the front in what looked to be an attempt to prepare the way for a fifth stage win for the man in yellow. But before long, Austria’s Gall took control with two Decathlon team-mates in Callum Scotson and Aurelien Paret-Peintre – perhaps sensing blood with Roglic struggling behind.

'When he wants, he goes' - Pogacar makes first attack on final climb

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The hefty tempo disrupted Pogacar, who later seemed both bemused and annoyed by the tactic. "We did a good job until the last climb when some teams – some riders – think they can sprint 19km of the climb," he said, in a clear swipe at Decathlon’s tactics.

With 14km remaining, Pogacar looked to have got his ducks in a line with an attack which only Vingegaard could follow. But with the Dane apparently refusing to come through, the momentum was lost – allowing Arensman to claw his way back on before taking advantage of the lull.

The 25-year-old Dutchman struck out with just under 13km remaining, quickly establishing a gap of 30 seconds as white jersey contenders Lipowitz and Onley rode back into contention alongside Pogacar and Vingegaard.

With the pace easing, even Gall, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) were able to rejoin the yellow jersey group while Arensman continued what looked to be, at the time, a futile pursuit of glory.

But a stalemate soon ensued, with no one prepared to come ahead of Pogacar to help reel in the lone leader.

Pogacar: 'I was thinking Vingegaard wanted the stage... then he was just holding my wheel'

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"The pace was incredibly high at the start and I was thinking that maybe Jonas wanted to win a stage also, but he was just holding onto my wheel," Pogacar said.

"Arensman went on a good attack, I decided not to follow and to set my defensive rhythm that I felt comfortable with. And in the end, it was like this, and I had to pull the whole climb."

An acceleration with 7km remaining saw Healy, Johannessen and Gall fall off the back. The top four riders in the general classification then rode together and failed to make any significant in-roads into Arensman’s lead until Lipowitz finally broke the deadlock inside the final two kilometres.

With Onley dropped, Lipowitz pulled the Big Two ever closer to Arensman. But, in the end, they ran out of road. Vingegaard attacked, dropped Lipowitz and took Pogacar with him – but they crossed the line two seconds behind Arensman, who held his hands up to his face in disbelief.

To cap a frustrating day for Pogacar, the yellow jersey was almost knocked off his bike by a race marshal running to the aid of the stage winner, who had come to an almost complete standstill after securing his second triumph of the Tour.

Marshal shoulder bumps Pogacar at finish as Arensman stuns Tour favourites

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"I’m absolutely destroyed. I can’t believe it. Already, to win one stage at the Tour from a break is unbelievable. But to win from the GC group – against the strongest riders in the world – it feels like I’m dreaming. I don’t know what I just did," Arensman said.

"On the last climb, I thought maybe they would look at each other and I would try it. I just don’t take no for an answer. I tried to not look behind and went as fast as I could – and it was just enough. It’s crazy."

For his part, Pogacar was relieved simply to move one step closer to Paris. "I’m just happy it’s over – and just two more days to Paris. The last few days have been tough for me, I’m just happy that today is over," he said. "But you never know, it’s the Tour de France and there are two more days."

The first of those days is Saturday’s Classics-style Stage 20 – a lumpy 184km ride through the Jura mountains from Nantua to Pontarlier that features four lower-category climbs. While it’s potential ambush territory, the terrain should not trouble Pogacar, who has all but secured a fourth Tour triumph. Not that his moody demeanour would suggest as much.