Mike O'Connor
Tadej Pogacar has all but wrapped up a fifth Tour de France title after producing another dominant mountain performance to win Stage 19 atop the iconic Alpe d’Huez.
The 2026 Tour entered its final two days with the shortest mountain stage of this year’s race, as the peloton tackled the 93km route from Gap to Alpe d’Huez under clear skies. It ended in familiar fashion, with the UAE Team Emirates XRG leader claiming his fifth stage victory of the race and extending his overall lead to more than seven minutes.
Pogacar’s stunning ascent of Alpe d’Huez took just 35 minutes and 26 seconds, breaking the long-standing record set by Marco Pantani in 1997.
“I just wanted to do a good race and to win,” Pogacar said after the finish. “I heard that I broke it, so I’m happy. A 30-something-year record finally broken is good for us.”
The stage came despite speculation earlier in the week that illness had affected members of the UAE Team Emirates XRG squad. Any concerns appeared unfounded as the Slovenian looked in complete control on cycling’s most famous climb.
The opening part of the stage was animated by attacks, with French climber Valentin Paret-Peintre continuing his pursuit of the King of the Mountains jersey. He claimed maximum points over the Category 2 Col Bayard before narrowly edging Richard Carapaz to the summit of the Category 1 Col du Noyer for another valuable haul. The effort proved costly, however, as the Frenchman was unable to stay with the leading breakaway.
A large escape group, featuring Carapaz, Sepp Kuss, Thymen Arensman, Lenny Martinez and Pogacar’s teammate Adam Yates, built an advantage of more than four minutes with less than 50 kilometres remaining.
But once the race hit the lower slopes of Alpe d’Huez, Pogacar took control.
Adam Yates briefly helped drive the pace after recovering from illness earlier in the week, but once Pogacar accelerated on the lower slopes of Alpe d’Huez, the outcome looked inevitable. The Slovenian rapidly erased the breakaway’s advantage before riding solo to his fifth stage win of the race.
The win further cements Pogacar’s grip on the yellow jersey, with Remco Evenepoel remaining second overall but now more than seven minutes behind. Barring disaster, the Slovenian is set to equal the all-time record of five Tour de France victories when the race concludes in Paris.
One final mountain test remains on Saturday’s queen stage across the Alps, giving Pogacar another opportunity to add to an already remarkable Tour that has yielded five stage wins from 19 stages, and now just nine shy of Mark Cavendish’s all-time record, set two years ago.
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates XRG | 67:53:00 |
| 2 | Remco Evenepoel | Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe | +7:11 |
| 3 | Isaac Del Toro | UAE Team Emirates XRG | +9:42 |
| 4 | Paul Seixas | Decathlon CMA CGM | +10:06 |
| 5 | Lenny Martinez | Bahrain Victorious | +13:00 |
| 6 | Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl–Trek | +13:09 |
| 7 | Juan Ayuso | Lidl–Trek | +15:58 |
| 8 | Richard Carapaz | EF Education–EasyPost | +21:15 |
| 9 | Tom Pidcock | Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team | +21:30 |
| 10 | Jordan Jegat | TotalEnergies | +23:21 |
Mike O’Connor – A keen cyclist, runner and photographer, Mike O’Connor is the Editor of Bicycling Australia. He manages the BA website and social media, and loves promoting the achievements of Australian cyclists.
