19/07/2024

"A total of 58 kilometers of climbing" - Lance Armstrong argues that anything can happen on stage 19 of the Tour de France

Although Lance Armstrong has made it clear in his podcast The Move that he believes Tadej Pogacar has the Tour de France all but won against Jonas Vingegaard, he believes that stage 19 with a finish in Isola 2000 and a short route with three long climbs strung together without a break can make anything happen.

Let's remember that the Slovenian is just over 3 minutes ahead of the Dane, whom he has clearly dominated in all the high mountain stages so far. The winner of the last two Tours showed weakness a couple of days ago against Remco Evenepoel, whom he is 2 minutes behind in the standings. All in all, today's stage suits the Dane better than the Belgian.

Armstrong explains what can happen on a day with such a brutal set of climbs which include the Col de Vars (18.9Km; 5.6%), Cime de la Bonnette (23.1Km; 6.8%; 2798 meters of altitude)) and a summit finish in Isola 2000 (16.1Km; 7.1%).

PREVIEW | Tour de France 2024 stage 19 - Jonas Vingegaard's final real opportunity to dethrone Tadej Pogacar on highest-ever Tour de France climb

"The guys are blown out, the race seems decided, but anything can happen, you have to race to the finish line. It's a disgusting day, there are 3 days left until Nice and today there are 4400 meters of elevation gain, it's a short stage of 144 kilometers and on the profile all we see are 3 long climbs, a total of 58 kilometers of climbing."

Possibility for the breakaway?

George Hincapie, meanwhile, points out that there are still 11 teams that have yet to win and that they will try to make sure the breakaway makes it to the finish. With only three days of racing remaining (one of them being a time-trial where the GC favourites will undoubtedly fight for victory), most teams are on their absolute last moments to take some success out of this race.

"Another big breakaway is expected, there are 11 teams that haven't won yet," he said. "I'm sure INEOS is trying, that Red Bull is still trying with Jai Hindley, we'll see what those in the general classification do, Pogacar has called the queen stage of the Tour".