As it happened: Mohoric prevails in chaotic Tour de France stage 19 breakaway battle
Asgreen second after a day of non-stop action on the 172.8km road to Poligny
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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 19 of the Tour de France!
Just under an hour to go until the start of the stage in Moirans-en-Montagne.
A look at today's stage profile.
And here's the map of the day, which should be one for the fastmen.
Yesterday on stage 18 the sprint squads got it wrong and the breakaway prevailed, with Kasper Asgreen scoring Soudal-QuickStep's first win of the Tour.
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A look at the GC standings heading into today's stage.
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Half an hour to go to the start.
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Just a few minutes now until the riders head out to roll through the neutral zone.
They're off for the 7.5km ride to the real start.
The riders continue the roll through the neutral zone.
2.5km to go until the flag drops.
Eddy Merckx with polka dot jersey wearer Giulio Ciccone and yellow jersey wearer Jonas Vingegaard at the start.
172.8km to go
The flag drops and racing is underway on stage 19.
Attacks and a high pace straight away.
Edvald Boasson Hagen on the move.
Victor Campenaerts going now.
165km to go
Campenaerts had 13 seconds on the peloton.
Campenaerts now getting reeled in.
162km to go
More riders flow off the front as Campenaerts is caught.
Danny van Poppel leads the next wave of attacks.
No break yet as riders continue to push on.
Peter Sagan makes a move now.
Sagan solo on an uphill rise.
Sagan caught.
Mads Pedersen and Alexey Lutsenko among the latest names to move.
150km to go
The fourth-category Côte du Bois de Lionge now.
Lutsenko takes the point over the top.
The pair are seven seconds up on the peloton.
15 seconds for the two leaders.
139km to go
The gap to the two up front has reached 18 seconds now after the descent.
Splits in the peloton and Adam Yates is on the wrong side of them.
Pedersen and Lutsenko now caught.
And now the riders go uphill again.
133km to go
Yates at 20 seconds behind the peloton with some teammates.
Riders continue to push on off the front. Nils Politt leading the latest moves.
123km to go
Alberto Bettiol off the front now.
Another hill now.
Julian Alaphilippe now among the riders giving it a go.
Politt, Haig, Benoot, Campenaerts, Zimmermann, Trentin, Haig, Alaphilippe, Barguil, Pedersen off the front.
20 seconds for that group now.
116km to go
A strong group on the move – is this the breakaway of the day?
30 seconds now.
Over a minute now as the peloton slows down.
Israel-Premier Tech trying to make moves in the peloton now but it might be too late.
108km to go
Uno-X and EF also working at the head of the peloton.
1:10 to the break while the dropped riders are 2:55 down.
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A look at the break of the day.
100km to go
Still 1;05 for the breakaway at the moment.
Israel, Uno-X, and EF still working in the peloton after missing the move.
The gap to the break is holding here, while the peloton of dropped riders is now at 4:30 down.
The front of the peloton.
90km to go
Nils Politt stops with a broken chain.
The German takes a bike from Shimano neutral service but there's a problem with that too. He tries three of their bikes before giving up.
He's out of the break as the peloton sweeps by.
Eight men in the breakaway now.
Still a minute between them and the peloton.
Politt chasing back to the peloton now.
Bora-Hansgrohe have a couple of fast finishers – Jordi Meeus and Danny van Poppel – in the peloton, so they'll switch focus now.
85km to go
Jonas Vingegaard comes to the front of the peloton to wave off the TV moto. He doesn't want the moto's draft to help the group chase his teammate Benoot in the break.
Politt now back at the rear of the peloton.
The gap to the break now just under a minute.
Now down to 50 seconds and counting...
EF, Israel, Uno-X still at the head of the peloton.
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75km to go
Now just 40 seconds for the break...
The breakaway riders pass the intermediate sprint. Pedersen pushes to the front of the group to lead the way across the line.
Back in the peloton, Jasper Philipsen leads the way to pick up some points, too.
20 points for Pedersen, seven for Philipsen. The Belgian's green jersey lead is 137 points.
70km to go
Splits at the front of the peloton there as the Philipsen group breaks off the front.
Philipsen is there with several riders from Uno-X as well his teammate Mathieu van der Poel. Pidcock, Laporte, Bettiol, Clarke, Groenewegen, Oss, Mohoric, Meeus, Naesen all in there too.
Something like 25-30 men in there, 30 seconds down on the break. The peloton is at a minute.
The split group is closing in on the breakaway.
Uno-X driving the move.
65km to go
The split group catches the breakaway. 1:25 back to the peloton.
Clarke and Campenaerts push on at the front.
36 men in the breakaway now.
60km to go
14 seconds for Campenaerts and Clarke.
The two out front are extending their advantage. Back in the peloton, two minutes behind, Jumbo-Visma are controlling the front.
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55km to go
25 seconds for Clarke and Campenaerts.
Uno-X still at the front of the breakaway group behind the two attackers.
The peloton now at three minutes down.
Now 30 seconds for the front two.
Up and over a rise in the road and there's a downhill run coming up next.
A look at the large breakaway group – now chasing Clarke and Campenaerts.
45km to go
On the descent and the two attackers are only gaining time. Their advantage is up to 50 seconds now.
Clarke and Campenaerts on the move.
4:30 back to the main peloton and 10 minutes back to the 'second peloton' of dropped riders.
There's still some way to go and 34 men in the chase but things looking good so far for Clarke and Campenaerts.
Both men out front have Grand Tour stage winning pedigree, of course. Clarke has two Vuelta stage wins plus the famous Arenberg stage a year ago on his palmarès, while Campenaerts won stage 15 of the 2021 Giro from the break.
The third-category Côte d'Ivory (2.3km at 5.9%) coming up shortly. Uno-X working to close the gap and they're shaving some time off.
35km to go
40 seconds for the two leaders now.
Campenaerts doesn't have any teammates in the chase group. Clarke has three teammates there in Corbin Strong, Krists Neilands, and Hugo Houle. They can all sit in and save some energy should the chase make the catch.
Quite a few teams with several riders in there...
Uno-X: Abrahamsen, Charmig, Tiller, Wærenskjold
Jumbo-Visma: Benoot, Laporte
EF: Bettiol, Powless
QuickStep: Alaphilippe, Asgreen
Bahrain: Mohoric, Wright, Haig
Bora: Meeus, Haller
AG2R: O'Connor, Naesen
Alpecin: Van der Poel, Philipsen
TotalEnergies: Oss, Turgis
Clarke and Campenaerts start the climb at 30 seconds up on the chase.
The peloton now at 5:55 down.
32km to go
Cramp for Simon Clarke! His time out front is over.
Campenaerts forges on alone, then.
The big question behind is how the fastest finishers such as Philipsen, Van der Poel, Groenewegen, Laporte, Pedersen, Wright will do on this climb.
A couple of Uno-X riders drop off the rear after their hard work. Still Charmig and Tiller left in the chase.
Stage 18 winner Asgreen makes a move off the front. O'Connor and Mohoric go with him.
30km to go
Campenaerts caught with some way to go on the climb. Asgreen, O'Connor and Mohoric join him.
20 seconds back to the chase.
Campenaerts is done. He almost comes to a halt after briefly hanging on to the trio on the way up.
Meeus losing touch in the chase group.
Groenewegen near the rear of the group. Philipsen looking relatively comfortable. Meanwhile, Pedersen gives it a push at the front.
There's still some 28km left to run once the riders hit the top so a chance for sprinteres to get back in if they don't lose too much ground on the way up.
Zimmermann and Ion Izagirre off the front of the chase.
And more riders try moves. Pedersen again.
Now Pedersen leads the group up to Zimmermann and Izagirre.
O'Connor leads the attacking trio over the top, 15 seconds up on the chase.
Philipsen off the rear now, around 8-9 seconds down on the chase.
27km to go
Around 10 men in the chase behind the chase.
It looks like the chase groups will come together fairly quickly. Three men still out front, however.
26km to go
19 seconds from them to the chase, then another 5 or 6 to Philipsen's group.
The peloton now at 7:10 down.
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The chase groups now together again as one on the way down. 30 seconds to the lead trio.
The best sprinters in the chase group – Philipsen and Groenewegen – only have one teammate each – Van der Poel and Mezgec – to chase for them.
Top descender Mohoric gaining a few bike lengths on the descent, though O'Connor is quick to make it across with Asgreen behind him.
Corbin Strong crashes on the descent. He's up and walking to get his bike.
22km to go
24 seconds for the lead trio now.
Laporte and Van der Poel off the front of the chase group together.
Van der Poel stuck on the wheel and seemingly unwilling to do any work, though.
Philipsen and Pedersen now chasing across to Laporte. Van der Poel had already dropped back.
23 seconds to the leaders.
So often in these situations we see a small lead group work well together all the way to the line while the much larger chase group can't get it together.
There's not much indication that the chase group will work together on this run-in so far.
Now Trentin and Bettiol attack. Only a handful of teams have more than one rider, and fewer still have a top sprinter, so there's not a huge incentive to help Philipsen and Groenewegen to the line.
However, they kinda have to make the catch to have any chance whatsoever...
17km to go
16 seconds now from Trentin, Bettiol and Van der Poel to the leaders. The rest of the group just a few seconds back.
Zimmermann now goes across to Bettiol, Trentin, Van der Poel.
Jumbo, Jayco, Uno-X trying accelerations behind.
15km to go
It's still 17 seconds up to the leaders.
The three men on the attack out front.
A puncture for Warren Barguil at a disastrous time. He drops out of the chase group.
Now the group behind Van der Poel's chase quartet has blown apart...
Asgreen, O'Connor, Mohoric still working well out front. 17 seconds to the chase.
Nine minutes back to the peloton, by the way.
13km to go
The Van der Poel main chase group now has Pedersen, Pidcock, Philipsen, Laporte, Mezgec in there.
O'Connor, Mohoric, Asgreen chased by Van der Poel, Philipsen, Laporte, Pidcock, Bettiol, Zimmermann, Pedersen, Mezgec, Trentin.
Then the rest of the breakaway group is scattered further back down the road...
11km to go
The live timing now reads 28 seconds to the chasers.
55 seconds to the rest of the break.
It's very doable with just over 10km left to run, though the time gap doesn't seem to be going in the right direction for the chasers.
10km to go
Asgreen leads the attacking trio under the 10km banner.
Three up front, nine behind. They're the only men left in contention for the win now.
28 seconds now.
8km to go
A few seconds off the lead but it's not looking promising for the chasers.
The three teams represented out front have won stages already in this Tour, of course. AG2R with Felix Gall in Courchevel, Bahrain with Wout Poels and Pello Bilbao, and QuickStep with Asgreen just yesterday.
7km to go
It's still 27 seconds to the leaders.
Jumbo-Visma lead the peloton at over 10 minutes back.
It looks like these three men will be contesting the stage win today.
5km to go
The gap goes out to just over 30 seconds.
Jasper Philipsen seems to briefly complain to Mads Pedersen in the chase.
3km to go
The gap just isn't coming down. 32 seconds.
It's between the front three now.
2km to go
Still 32 seconds. There'll be no fifth stage win for Philipsen today.
The leaders race down a tree-lined road towards the flamme rouge.
1km to go
They keep on rolling through. O'Connor on the front.
You'd say that O'Connor is the third-favourite in a sprint here.
Asgreen on the front at 600 metres to go.
O'Connor leaves a small gap.
The Australian winds up and goes for it at 500 metres to go!
Asgreen right to his wheel as he goes past.
O'Connor on the front at 250 to go.
Asgreen comes past!
Mohoric pulling alongside in the dying metres!
It's a photo finish...
Finish
Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) has won stage 19 of the Tour de France!
He just about edged it over Asgreen at the line.
O'Connor third.
Philipsen gets past Pedersen for fourth place at 39 seconds down.
What a stage!
Mohoric won that by a tiny margin on the bike throw to the line.
Mohoric pips Asgreen to the stage win.
The photo finish. So close!
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An emotional Mohoric after his stage win today.
Meanwhile, the peloton still rolling to the finish. Jumbo-Visma leading them at 2km to go, well over 10 minutes down.
That stage was only three hours 31 minutes long, the second-shortest road stage of the Tour. It felt a lot longer than that (not in a bad way, of course, just that so much happened)...
Jumbo-Visma lead the peloton home at 13:43 down.
There'll be no change in the GC today, aside from Tom Pidcock gaining around 13 minutes. He should go from 16th to 13th overall in the standings.
Barely separable on the line and just after it too. Mohoric and Asgreen shortly after finishing the stage.
That was Mohoric's third Tour de France stage win, of course. He won from long days in the break in Le Creusot and Libourne two years ago, too.
Race leader Jonas Vingegaard crosses the line safely, his yellow jersey still intact.
A look back at the tense final kilometre of today's stage...
⏪ The final KM of a high-intensity stage, and the closest finish of the #TDF2023 so far.⏪ Le dernier KM d'une étape à haute intensité, et l'arrivée la plus serrée du #TDF2023 jusqu'à présent. pic.twitter.com/ZwZg9n91oRJuly 21, 2023
Here's a selection of what Mohoric said after winning today's stage...
"It means a lot because it's hard and cruel to be a pro cyclist. You suffer a lot in preparation, you sacrifice your life and your family and do everything you can to be ready. Then after a couple of days you realize everyone is so incredibly strong that it's hard to follow the wheels sometimes. The other day on the Col de la Loze I was completely tired and empty and done with it. You have to go all the way to the top and across to the finish then do it again the next day. You see staff wake up at 6am and go for an hour run, then finish their work at 11 or midnight...
"Sometimes you feel like you don't belong here because everyone's so incredibly strong you struggle to follow the wheels – even today I was thinking how – you know the guy who is pulling is suffering as much as you do. It's cruel.
"I somehow found the strength to follow. I also tried to contribute to staying away because if I didn't, we wouldn't stay away. At one point I felt sorry for Ben because I knew he had no chance in the sprint but he still pushed because he also wants to contest the win. When he went, I knew Kasper was going to react so I followed his wheel and he basically led me out.
"I'm just so happy for myself and the team for everything that happened in the last month."
That was the fastest stage of this year's Tour and reportedly the fifth-fastest ever. 49.1kph.
No change in the jerseys today – Vingegaard, Philipsen, Ciccone, Pogacar remain in yellow, green, polka dots, and white ahead of stage 20.
Finally, here's a look ahead to tomorrow's penultimate stage to Le Markstein. The final mountain test of the Tour de France ahead of Sunday's finale in Paris.
That's coming up tomorrow along with more day-long live coverage. Stay tuned this evening for news from the ground after stage 19, too.
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