Laporte breaks French Tour jinx as Vingegaard closes in

Christophe Laporte won stage 19 of the Tour de France to end the French wait for a home victory as the sprinters were again denied the chance to contest the honours.

Laporte burst past Britain's Fred Wright with only 400 metres of the 188km stage from Castelnau-Magnoac to Cahors remaining, with Wright having been part of a three-man breakaway who came within sight of taking the win.

This was another stage circled as being one for the sprinters, starved of opportunities since the race left Denmark three weeks ago, but the uphill drag to the finish proved too much as Laporte comfortably won ahead of Jasper Philipsen and Alberto Dainese as Wright faded.

Laporte’s victory was yet more success for Jumbo-Visma, who go into Saturday’s penultimate stage looking to carry the yellow, green, and polka dot jerseys into Paris.

Jonas Vingegaard retained the race lead by more than three minutes, albeit losing five seconds to Tadej Pogacar as there were some splits in the bunch on the approach to the line.

Pogacar, determined to show himself after losing time in the Pyrenees, had briefly attacked when Wright, Alexis Gougeard and Jasper Stuyven went clear with around 35km to go but was quickly shut down.