Tadej Pogačar vanquishes Alpe d’Huez in record speed at the Tour de France

Becoming only the second Yellow Jersey in history to take victory on Alpe d’Huez, Tadej Pogačar won stage 19 of the Tour de France and produced a performance that will be remembered for generations.

Attacking 12km from the summit of the mythical mountain, Pogačar closed a three-minute deficit to the breakaway and rode clear of his final opponents with 800m to go. As he posted up to celebrate at the finish line, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man clocked in a record-setting ascent of Alpe d’Huez in the process.

Now a winner of five stages at this year’s Tour de France, Pogačar’s time of 35 minutes and 26 seconds is the fastest ascent ever recorded up the sport’s most famous mountain. With this latest conquest, the defending champion extends his lead in the Yellow Jersey to over seven minutes, as the Slovenian bids to win the Tour for a record-equalling fifth time.

Pogačar’s young teammate, Isaac del Toro, stretched out his advantage in the White Jersey, with the Mexican putting more time into his rival for the final podium, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM). Del Toro took seventh place on stage 19, and sits third overall heading into the final stage in the mountains.

On Friday afternoon, victory was in the balance right the way up the final climb, as Pogačar passed rider after rider in pursuit of the front of the race.

Earlier on in stage 19, a large breakaway had built up a lead of over four minutes to the chasing peloton. With UAE Team Emirates-XRG depleted by the loss of Brandon McNulty on stage 18, and a bout of illness which had knocked back a few of its riders, it was a tough ask to marshal the front of the peloton.

But the Emirati squad rallied through Tim Wellens, Florian Vermeersch, and Nils Politt. With Adam Yates up the road in the breakaway, operating as a satellite rider, it was over to Felix Großschartner to set a ferocious chase on the penultimate climb of the day. Such were the Austrian’s efforts that the peloton was down to only 13 riders, with the full ascent of Alpe d’Huez yet to go.

The breakaway began the day’s final climb with an advantage of three and a half minutes, and it soon became clear that the strongest riders out front were Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost). Sensing that he would have to make his move sooner rather than later, Pogačar plotted an audacious plan.

With 12km of the climb still to go, the Slovenian attacked from the group of favourites and immediately went in lone pursuit of the breakaway. His deficit was three minutes, but he was not to be deterred.

Up the road, after all, was his teammate and loyal lieutenant, Yates. The British rider had reserved some energy from his day in the breakaway, and produced an important 2km-long pull with Pogačar in his wheel.

Buoyed by his resurgent teammate’s support, Pogačar attacked over the top and continued his assault on the mountain.

With 8.5km to ride, his deficit to the front had reduced to a little over two minutes, and just 3km later, that gap had shrunk to under a minute. The four-time Tour de France champion was on the charge.

As Kuss, Martinez and Carapaz came into the view of Pogačar inside the final 4km, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider took a breath, allowing himself a momentary respite in order to regather his strength for the final push. Martinez was caught with 2.7km to go, and a kilometre later, Martinez, Carapaz and Pogačar were a leading trio at the head of the race.

After an 11-km-long pursuit, the Yellow Jersey led his rivals under the flamme rouge, before kicking again in a bid to rid himself of their company. With 800m to go, the elastic snapped, and Carapaz and Martinez were forced to relent. The Slovenian stole a march and powered his way up the climb’s final slopes.

Over the line, Pogačar was alone, having produced a performance for the ages. The world champion had overcome a three-minute deficit, passed dozens of riders along the way, and set a record-breaking ascent of the sport’s Hollywood climb.

Alpe d’Huez was his, so too was stage 19. Two days from Paris, the Slovenian will hope the same can be said for the Yellow Jersey come Sunday evening.

Pogačar: “It is very cool to win up here, and it was a crazy atmosphere the whole climb. It was thanks to all the team that I could pull it off in the end. I was riding for the teammates today, and I am super happy to take the win.”

“When I heard some of the guys dropped when Felix was pulling a super good pace in the beginning of the climb… Already, the climb before, we were going full gas because the breakaway was so strong. We were going full gas all day, and then in the beginning, in the first kilometre of Alpe d’Huez, I knew that I had good legs and there are not many guys left that maybe can follow, or try to go with me. I tried and then I committed to the top.”

“I had Adam in the middle, and he gave me a big morale boost. I am super happy that he is finally back after that day of the TT, and I was super happy to ride behind him for a couple of kilometres on the climb. In the end, I had to fight off against super good riders, but they were playing a bit with each other at the end, so this helped me to catch up and win the stage.

“Good shape, I just go day by day, and tomorrow is the Queen stage of the Tour. I hope that Paris will be a nice day and super shiny, but tomorrow is the hardest day of the Tour.”

Tour de France 2026 stage 19 results:

1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3:17:57

2. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) +6″

3. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +9″

7. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2:41

Tour de France 2026 general classification after stage 19:

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