BGL Ligue

Tour de France
Tour de France
Tour de France
Carapaz claims Stage 18 win as Pogacar stays in yellow after team-mate blow
Completed
Tour de France

Stage 19 | Mountain

Mountain
Gap → Alpe d'Huez / 127.9 km
13:15
Follow live
Live Commentary
13:12
Sun
PELOTON ROLLING THROUGH THE NEUTRAL ZONE
The remaining 162 riders are edging out of Gap ahead of this key day in the 113th edition of the Tour. It’s 26 degrees and the sun is, once again, shining down from a cloudless blue sky. It’s almost showtime…
13:10
Question
RIDERS TO BREAK 31-YEAR-OLD CLIMBING RECORD TODAY?
The current record ascent of Alpe d’Huez is 36:40 and was set by Marco Pantani in 1995. Given the advances in technology and nutrition, many think that this record could be broken by the top finishers today.
A lot will depend on how Tadej Pogacar feels. If he’s not ill, he will want to win today’s stage in style – and the record will be toppled accordingly. But if Pogi is suffering from sickness, we could witness a pretty tepid two days of the man in yellow simply following Evenepoel and Seixas, rather than going for the kind of victories that would see his advantage stretch to over 10 minutes on his nearest challengers on GC.

13:08
Jersey - Yellow
BLACK SHORTS AGAIN FOR POGACAR
Many are speculating that the Slovenian is wearing black shorts to cover the stomach issues that his team have been battling. Usually head-to-toe in yellow, Pogacar has, for the past few days, opted for black shorts because – well, let’s just say they might show up any issues less than yellow shorts…
Of course, it could be less gastric mishap and more aesthetics...

13:00
Quote
PIDOCK PLAYS DOWN HOPES OF A D’HUEZ DOUBLE
The British rider won here in 2022 but thinks he won’t get the same chances today because he won’t be allowed to get into a breakaway.
It was obviously a very special day for me and my career but after today I expect there’ll be some very different memories. It will be a different race, for sure. I think today there might be some back wheels in front of me that I’ll be looking at instead. It will be a GC battle, very fast, and I’ll see what I can do.

12:51
Quote
TADEJ POGACAR PLAYS DOWN ILLNESS CONCERNS
Speaking last night after Stage 18 – moments after his team-mate Brandon McNulty pulled out of the Tour, the yellow jersey remained upbeat ahead of the Alpe d’Huez double. He did admit to fears from the fans on the climb, though – which is understandable, given the history of the climb and the increase in fan numbers.
”It’s a big hit but we will manage the next two days. I’m still confident that our team will be on point tomorrow and the day after. Obviously, it’s one less rider. Adam [Yates] is coming back better and better. But today was super good – Felix [Grossschartner] was incredible, really strong, and Isaac [del Toro] was strong also. So, in the worst case scenario, we will manage. We’ll just see how the guys wake up tomorrow. I just hope nothing crazy happens on the climb tomorrow – but winning there will be great, and we have two chances. The flags are dangerous, though, and I hope nothing bad happens.”
Advertisement