Christophe Laporte ends French drought with shock Stage 19 win as Jumbo-Visma's stellar Tour continues

22.07.2022 - 18:45 eurosport.com

Frenchman Christophe Laporte won Stage 19 of the Tour de France, a 188.3km ride from Castelnau-Magnoac to Cahors. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo–Visma) finished safely in the bunch and has a 3'21" lead over Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in the general classification.

Ad/> Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Jasper Stuyven (Trek–Segafredo) and Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels — KTM) had a gap of just 10 seconds with 5km left of the stage as Ineos and BikeExchange–Jayco set the pace at the head of the peloton as they looked to reel in the escapees.

Tour de FranceTour de France Stage 19: Route map, how to watch as sprinters rewarded for Pyrenees slog10 HOURS AGO But it was Christophe Laporte (Jumbo–Visma) who managed to bridge over to the leading trio before kicking for the line to end the French drought at the Tour.

It was France’s first Tour de France stage win for 38 stages. More to follow — — — Stream the Tour de France live and on-demand on discovery+.

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Jumbo-Visma had the freedom to unleash Christophe Laporte to win on Stage 19 as they have now entered a relatively pressure-free phase of the Tour de France. The Dutch team have taken an unorthodox approach as a general classification team at the Tour, with riders – Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte, for example – afforded the freedom to pursue individual success concurrent to Jonas Vingegaard’s yellow jersey aspirations. Ad/> Van Aert picked up two wins, on Stages 4 and 8, after opening the Tour with three second-placed finishes.