Key events
In all that, Carapaz’s third-place finish means he takes the lead in the polkadot jersey standings.
For all the talk about UAE struggling, Pogacar has made a mockery of that. Seixas congratulates the winner: “You’re insane,” says the Frenchman. He’s not wrong.
Martinez comes in second and Carapaz, who rode with such heart, finishes third.
Tadej Pogacar wins stage 19 atop Alpe d’Huez
Wow! It was inevitable but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t impressive. He’s conquered Alpe d’Huez in 35mins 29 secs, more than a minute quicker than Pantani’s record.
750m to go And that’s it, the elastic has been broken, Pogacar just upped the tempo and that was enough.
1km to go This is exhilarating viewing. Carapaz and Martinez are still with Pogacar.
1.7km to go Pogacar has caught Carapaz and now attacks, but it doesn’t stick.
1.9km to go Isaac del Toro has attacked and put some distance himself between Seixas. That could be the white jersey settled.
2km to go Carapaz is still out ahead and fighting. He can’t hold this, surely?
2.6km to go TNT say Pogacar is close to Pantani’s record for the Alpe d’Huez.
3km to go Carapaz grits his teeth and attacks again. Pogacar goes past Kuss and now Martinez.
3.7km to go Incredible from Pogacar, but it’s almost expected at this point.
4.2km to go Having caught back up, Kuss accelerates. You feel if he had been allowed to dictate this climb that these three might have had a better chance of winning, instead they are being hunted. Pogacar can’t see them but he is only 20 seconds behind.
5.2km to go The crowds are getting very tight around the leaders but they seem disorganised and not working together. Again Carapaz goes, Martinez is with him and Kuss is just behind. All the while Pogacar is making ground, 50 seconds the gap now.
6.8km to go Why is Carapaz still attacking? He can clearly burn away Kuss and Martinez if needs to but this is working into Pogacar’s hands. Pogacar is now just 70 seconds behind.
7.5km to go Pogacar is picking off the riders who were in the break. He’s eating up this mountain. Can someone do a live check on Pogacar’s time so far, is he on pace for the record?
8km to go The games being played up front have allowed Pogacar to bring the gap down to 1min 50secs.
8.8km to go Carapaz has darted away but taken Martinez with him. They managed to distance Kuss but the dispute over who would lead allows the Visma man to tempo his way back on.
9.2km to go Pogacar has left Yates and the gap is now coming down quickly, it’s now 2mins 20secs.
9.5km to go Carapaz wants the others to do some work and swings all the way to do side of the road to make Kuss come through.
10.5km to go Carapaz knows the danger behind and is pushing on. Kuss looks good alongside him. Pogacar is just 2mins 35secs behind the leaders now. It’s like being chased by the Terminator.
11km to go Kuss responds to news of Pogacar over the radio and attacks. Carapaz is with him. Pogacar now has Yates for company to do some turns.
11.8km to go Pogacar attacks and that’s it. He’s gone, no one can live with him.
12km to go Pidcock has lost contact with the GC riders and Ayuso is also struggling. The top ten will get a shake up today, especially with Martinez up the road.
12.5km to go The GC riders are on the climb but up ahead Arensman is attacking and taken Martinez, Carapaz and Kuss with him.
13km to go Someone put a rocket in Netcompany Ineos after yesterday’s disaster, the have two men in the final 11 on the climb, Tobias Foss and Thymen Arensmen. Armirail has knocked it off, some shift from him fir Visma.
13.8km to go We’re on to the climb with a horrible 9% gradient and we’ve already lost a couple of riders out the back.
15km to go Armirail is on the front of the break trying to give his Visma Lease-a-Bike teammate Sepp Kuss a platform to attack Alpe d’Huez. Pedersen has been doing likewise on the front of the peloton for Ayuso and Skjelmose.
18km to go It’s the easy bit now for the riders as they head downhill but very shortly the suffering starts.
25km to go The yellow jersey group is still 3mins 45secs off the break. That’s not insurmountable for Pogacar, but up ahead are some fine climbers. This should be fascinating, strap in this could go in any direction.
Carapaz takes the polka-points
The EF Education-EasyPost rider trails Paret-Peintre by just six points now. He could be in the jersey by the end of the stage.
29.5km to go The breakaway is down to 15 riders, among them is Richard Carapaz, Lenny Martinez, Sepp Kuss and Quinn Simmons. Serial espcapist Tobias Johannessen is also in there.
30km to go A couple of you have emailed in about Pogacar’s shorts. Without being crass, certain kinds of stains show in yellow shorts, which is something you might have to think about if you have a dicky tummy.
32km to go After mopping up the intermediate sprint Pedersen is done for the day. He’s falling back, as is Adam Yates. Is he going to be used as a bridge for Pogacar perhaps or is this just as much as he can give after couple of days struggling with illness?
33km to go The lead group is starting to whittle away. Paret-Peintre is one of those who has dropped off, we’re down to 30 riders at the front.
37km to go We go straight from the intermediate sprint on to the penultimate climb. Col d’Ornon is a category two lump in the road, 5.4km uphill at an average of 6.4%.
