France 24 Special Envoy in Tignes (France)
Rarely scenario of a stage of the Tour de France will have given rise to so many twists on so little distance. Of the 126 kilometers that separated Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne from Tignes, in the French Alps, the peloton will finally have finally traveled only 89. And the race was finally neutralized because of a shower of hail making totally impracticable the descent of the Col de l'Iseran penultimate difficulty of the initial program.
Julian Alaphillipe is 2 minutes behind Egan Bernal at the top of the Iseran pass. The Frenchman will try everything in the technical descent of the pass. Fifteen kilometers downhill to Val d'Isère where a storm of hail has just fallen! 😱😱😱 # TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/iWgZzT5eV1
France Blue Country of Savoy (@bleusavoie) July 26, 2019So there will have been no climb to Tignes, a launching pad that theoretically drew the contours of the podium of this Great Loop. But, fortunately for the show, the big fight started much earlier in this 19th stage, which will have delivered a verdict without appeal. Because the lessons of these 89 kilometers of race are numerous, on the eve of the last alpine stage.
Thibaut Pinot was the first to focus the spotlight, from the first kilometers of the stage of the day. The Franche-Comté rider, whom many saw finally able to succeed Bernard Hinault - the last Frenchman to have triumphed on the Tour in 1985 - has never been able to defend his chances. Injured in the left thigh, he quickly conceded almost three minutes to the head of the race before throwing in the towel. And to leave the roads in the car of his sports director, in tears.
It's over for Thibaut Pinot who suffers too much. Extremely sad.
😢 It's over for @ThibautPinot who suffers too much to continue. A very difficult moment for him and his team # TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/qr7Bab0iPk
Tears for a very sad day for the French bike. A few tens of kilometers later, Ineos defending champion Geraint Thomas and team-mate Egan Bernal decided to blast the race. The Welsh placed a first banderilla in the first slopes of the Iseran pass, to which the main leaders managed to answer. All but Julian Alaphilippe, surprise yellow jersey of this Tour, finally brought to reason by the cadors of the big percentages.
The puncher Deceuninck-Quick Step decamped, the pretenders have pressed the accelerator and this little game, the Colombian Bernal was the strongest. Air on the slopes of the roof of the Tower (2,770 m), he pushed all the competition to almost a minute, and Julian Alaphillipe more than double. A tour de force sufficient to freeze the positions in the standings, since the best youngster in the race now has thirty seconds ahead of his victim of the day, and almost a minute on all his other rivals.
Approximate differences, since still under the stroke of an officialization by the race management, taken aback by bad weather. But even beyond official times, this improbable 19th stage will undoubtedly remain the highlight of this 2019 Tour.