Tour de France 2026: stage 19 from Gap to Alpe dHuez – live

That's it from me, but Jeremy Whittle's stage report will be up later and very worth reading after that day. Back with you tomorrow for… more Alpe d'Huez.

Pedersen, unassailable now, you would think:

1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 502
2. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) 445
3. Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) 361
4. Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team) 271
5. Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) 230
6. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 185
7. Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) 159
8. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe) 140
9. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 132
10. Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) 131

Carapaz is new leader in the king of the mountains race. Can he hang on tomorrow?

1. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) 91
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 90
3. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) 84
4. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) 42
5. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) 37
6. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 34
7. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) “
8. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) 26
9. Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) 22
10. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) 20

Pogacar extends his lead, then. Martinez moves up two spots to fifth, Carapaz overtakes Pidcock and Skjelmose leapfrogs teammate Ayuso:

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 67hrs 53mins 00secs
2. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe): +7mins 11secs
3. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): +9mins 42secs
4. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team): +10mins 06secs
5. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious): +13mins 00secs
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek): +13mins 09secs
7. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek): +15mins 58secs
8. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost): +21mins 15secs
9. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5): +21mins 30secs
10. Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies): +23mins 21secs

The numbers don't really tell the story here:

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3hrs 17mins 57secs
2. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious): +6secs
3. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost): +9secs
4. Sepp Kuss (Team Visma-Lease a Bike): +1min 14secs
5. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility): +2mins 07secs
6. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe): +2mins 29secs
7. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): +2mins 41secs
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek): +2mins 45secs
9. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) “
10. Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team): +3mins 22secs

Speaking to TNT, a somewhat nonchalant Pogacar says: “It's very cool to win up here and it was a crazy atmosphere the whole climb. Thanks to all the team so that I could pull it off in the end. I was riding for my teammates today and I'm super happy.

“When I heard some of the guys were dropped after Felix [Grossschartner] did a super good pace on the beginning of the climb, I knew [I could go].

“Already on the climb before we were going full gas because the breakaway was very strong. In the first kilometre of Alpe d'Huez I knew that I had good legs and there's many guys left that can try to go with me so I committed to the top. I had Adam [Yates] in the middle to give me a morale boost. I'm very happy he's back after the TT day and I was happy to ride after him for a couple of kilometres on the climb. In the end I had to fight off against two good riders, who were playing with eachother in the end so this helped me to catch up.â€

To recap, Pogacar was 3mins 26secs behind the breakaway when they started the climb with 13.8km to go. The man is a motor.

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.

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.

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%.