Tour de France organisers have edited what was set to be an enthralling day in the Alps to avoid cow culling taking place near the stage 19 route.
The discovery of a contagious disease amongst cattle has meant the route will be shortened from 129.9km to just 95km with two climbs – the 11.3km Cote d’Hery-sur-Ugine and the 13.7km Col des Saisies – removed.
An outbreak of nodular dermatitis meant the affected herd has needed to be culled and race organisers have taken the decision to divert the route in light of “distress” amongst those farmers concerned.
It follows yesterday’s stage 18 which promised high drama and delivered. But despite their best efforts, Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike were unable to break the resolve of Tadej Pogacar.
The yellow jersey extended his lead over the Dane by another 11 seconds, leaving he and his team with a mountain to climb, both physically and metaphorically, on stage 19, the final mountain stage of this year’s race.
Pogacar rode a conservative race to simply consolidate his lead, allowing Visma to shred the race down on the day’s second hors-categorie climb, the Col de la Madeleine, before a regrouping on the valley road to Col de la Loze.
That wasn’t quite what Visma had in mind and after all their efforts there was nothing they could do to distance Pogacar, who took control on the final climb and launched a sprint for second place on the top of the fearsome Col de la Loze.
First place went to Australian climber Ben O’Connor, who endured a torrid start to this year’s race, crashing and losing time on the very first stage and watching his GC ambitions of a top-five finish go up in smoke.
But he rode superbly on stage 18 to get into the day’s breakaway, sticking with the GC group as they absorbed the escapees on the Col de la Madeleine, before attacking again on the valley road, and finally dropping his sole remaining companion, Einer Rubio, with 16km left of the final climb.
He continued to time-trial his way to the finish and his second Tour de France stage win, while behind, Pogacar and Vingegaard were locked together until the final few hundred metres – along with Oscar Onley, whose superb Tour continued as he moved within 22 seconds of Florian Lipowitz and the final podium place.
The Dane was distanced as the yellow jersey stormed off to banish his past demons from the Col de la Loze, where he cracked in the 2023 Tour, and it was Vingegaard this time picking up the pieces. He insisted “the Tour isn’t over, still” at the finish, and while that’s true, he is rapidly running out of time to haul back his four-and-a-half minute deficit.
Stage 19 is arguably his final chance, but the shortening of the stage of will offer Vingegaard even less opportunity to attack,
In a statement ahead of the Albertville-La Plagne stage, the Tour said: “The discovery of an outbreak of contagious nodular dermatitis affecting cattle in a herd located specifically in the Col des Saisies has necessitated the culling of the animals.
“In light of the distress experienced by the affected farmers and in order to preserve the smooth running of the race, it has been decided, in agreement with the relevant authorities, to modify the route of Stage 19 (Albertville–La Plagne) and to avoid the ascent to the Col des Saisies.
“The ceremonial start will take place as planned at the exit of Albertville. After a 7km parade, riders will head towards the D925, where the official start will be given.
“The race will then rejoin the original route shortly before Beaufort (at km 52.4 on the original schedule).
“Due to this change, which notably bypasses the Col des Saisies, the stage will now cover a total distance of 95km instead of the originally planned 129.9km.”
Route map and profile
Start time
Stage 19 begins at 2.45pm local time (1.45pm BST) and is set to conclude around 5.20pm local time (4.20pm BST).
Prediction
Tadej Pogacar had said prior to stage 18 that he wanted to win, but ultimately opted for a safer, conservative ride, with all eyes on lifting the trophy in Paris. Will he go for the same tactic today, on the final mountaintop finish, or decide to add one more to his haul of four stage wins from this year?
If he fancies it, there’s essentially no stopping him, but on the last three summit finishes UAE haven’t ridden themselves into the red chasing down breakaways, so that may be the case again today – particularly after Visma put them to the sword on stage 18.
If a strong breakaway gets up the road, Michael Storer, Luke Plapp, and Santiago Buitrago are all potential winners, but all have had up-and-down Tours. Lenny Martinez has shown flashes of brilliance but been unable to stick with the best. Pablo Castrillo has had a very quiet race but is a double Vuelta a Espana winner from last year, both times on punishing mountain terrain.
Alternatively, Visma-Lease a Bike could once again send satellite riders up the road to aid Jonas Vingegaard, and keep them up the road for security if the yellow jersey group hits the final climb too late to make the catch. On his third-week form, who’d put it past Sepp Kuss to win a Tour de France stage?
