- Egan Bernal took the overall Tour de France lead as officials called off Stage 19 midway through the course.
- Bernal had been leading the field when organizers stopped the day’s race due to ice, mudslides, and flooding.
- Overall contender Thibaut Pinot had to abandon the Tour earlier in the day with a leg muscle tear.
In a somewhat disappointing twist on the third-to-last day of the Tour de France, Egan Bernal took the overall lead as officials called off Stage 19 midway through the course on Friday.
Bernal had been leading the field when Tour director Christian Prudhomme made the decision to end the stage early because of ice, mudslides, and flooding on the descent from the Col de l’Iseran, the highest point of the race this year. A sudden hailstorm had made conditions on the road too dangerous to continue.
Footage from the scene shows a mudslide flowing over the road where riders were supposed to travel:
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Instead of continuing to the planned summit finish in Tignes, riders had their times taken atop the Iseran to determine their positions on the General Classification. As a result, Bernal is the new leader of the Tour de France, stealing the yellow jersey from Julian Alaphilippe after it had sat on the Frenchman’s shoulders since the end of Stage 8. There was no Stage 19 winner.
Bernal, the 22-year-old Colombian and heavy favorite to win the Tour this year, broke away with Simon Yates on the upper slopes of the Iseran, a 2,770-meter hors catégorie climb that was meant to come about 50K from the finish. He then dropped Yates, a two-time stage winner, around the final kilometer to the summit, leading the field solo over what was to become the day’s final ascent.
Geraint Thomas, the returning champion and Bernal’s co-captain on Ineos, had been following in a small chase group with other overall favorites Steven Kruijswijk and Emanuel Buchmann, as well as out-of-contention GC riders like Rigoberto Urán, Vincenzo Nibali, and Mikel Landa. That group crested the top of the Iseran 55 seconds behind Bernal.
Julian Alaphilippe, meanwhile, broke from a third bunch behind them, riding away alone to put in time on the final stretch up the Iseran. A masterful descender, Alaphilippe had been hoping to gain back time on the long ride down from the summit, but it wasn’t to be as organizers neutralized the descent.
Egan Bernal's Stage 19 Gear
Lightweight Meilenstein Obermayer Schwarz Wheelset
For when price doesn't matter and performance is all that counts.
Dura-Ace FC-9100 Power Meter
Team Ineos trusts Shimano power meters to measure their marginal gains.
Kask Valegro Helmet
For maximum ventilation on long mountain stages.
“I don’t think I can win the yellow jersey back,” Alaphilippe, who wore it for 14 days total, told French reporters after the stage. “I was beaten by something stronger than me, that’s how it is... I gave the maximum. I have no regrets. It was a dream to wear it. I carried this dream longer than I had hoped and I beat myself up every day to keep a hold of it.”
After officials determined what time bonuses to award at the new, unexpected finish, the final rankings from Stage 19 looked like this: Bernal will start on Saturday in the lead, 48 seconds ahead of Alaphilippe. Thomas will start in third, at 1:16 behind. Kruijswijk and Buchmann will follow him on the General Classification, at 1:28 and 1:55, respectively.
One thing is certain, however. Overall favorite Thibaut Pinot, who entered the day in fifth on the GC, was forced to abandon the race with a leg injury. The French climber showed pain on his face as he cracked early, losing more than four minutes to the stage leaders on the Montée d'Aussois, one of the smaller categorized climbs preceding the day’s real challenge on the Iseran.
Pinot tried to solider on, getting caught by sprinters when he should have been at the front of the field, and losing ever more time by the meter. He finally dropped out, succumbing to a muscle tear on his inner left leg that had bothered him on Stage 18, the Tour’s first day in the Alps.
His Groupama–FDJ team confirmed the injury:
Pinot left the course in a team car, clearly upset at the turn of events.
Whatever happens with the official standings after Friday’s truncated stage, the Tour will bring only one more competitive stage as the race wraps up three days in the Alps on Saturday. The rider who leads after tomorrow will presumably win it all when the Tour concludes in Paris on Sunday.
Should Bernal defend his jersey from teammate Thomas and his few other challengers, he’ll become the first Colombian to ever win the race.
