Tour de France 2025: Pogacar and Vingegaard break on final stage 19 climb to La Plagne – live | Tour de France 2025
Key events
5km to go: Arensman stands up and dances on his pedals, maintaining a strong rhythm. He still has 24sec. La Plagne’s ski chalets are now dotting the sides of the road.
5.5km to go: Pogacar continues to control the pace in this group of four. The gap shrinks to 25sec, between them and Arensman. Neither Onley nor Lipowitz look to have the legs to attack at this stage. But of course they are riding their own personal race, like Pogacar and Vingegaard above them in GC.
6km to go: Arensman looks a tiny bit ragged but is still putting plenty of power into the pedals. He knows a second stage win of the race is in reach … But he also knows there is a big threat in yellow back down the road.
6.5km to go: Pogacar, Vingegaard, Onley, Lipowitz, in that order, in this second group on the road. Arensman, grinding it out up front, has 31sec.
6.5km to go: Pogacar attacks! Vingegaard follows, and Onley too, and momentarily a gap opens up to Lipowitz! But the German manages to get back on.
7km to go: Arensman has 35sec. Is Pogacar waiting for the steepest slopes? Is Lipowitz going to try and attack?
7.5km to go: Vauquelin is over 4min down now and has slipped to eighth in virtual GC. Pogacar rides on at the front of the group, apparently playing at being a domestique. Maybe his own domestique?
8km to go: Arensman has 36sec now. He and his team will be starting to dream …
8.5km to go: Pogacar sits first wheel in that group of seven now. He looks in total control, barely out of breath. He stands up on the pedals and ups the pace a bit, but it’s not a concerted attack. He glances back at his rivals, gauging if they are in pain, calculating when to launch the attack that might win him the stage.
9km to go: Arensman powers on alone. The pain is etched on his face. But he knows, from recent experience, what it feels like to win a Tour de France stage. And he wants some more of it. Pain is merely temporary, after all.
9.5km to go: It’s wet on the road. There are lots of fans, although not yet the kind of crowds we’ve seen on other mountains. Slovenian flags are out in force.
10km to go: A group of seven now, second on the road, half a minute behind Arensman: Pogacar, Vingegaard, Healy, Lipowitz, Gall, Onley, Johannessen.
Roglic has indeed collapsed and is 4min 19sec behind the leaders. Ouch.
10.5km to go: Arensman, out front on his own, has 28sec. He won last Saturday so is in flying form:
11km to go: Gall, Onley, Lipowitz and co have rejoined “Pogi” and Vingegaard.
11km to go: I reckon Lipowitz has ridden within himself so far today. Of course we don’t know how he’s feeling after a big solo effort yesterday, but he is looking comfortable to stay with Onley right now.
11.5km to go: Healy, Lipowitz, Onley, Van den Broek and Johannessen are together, fourth group on the road.
12km to go: Gall has attacked the other GC contenders back down the road and is solo, the third “group” on the road, with a handful of seconds. Lipowitz and Onley still together.
12.5km to go: Arensman attacks again! And this time he distances Pogacar and Vingegaard. He’s got 9sec.
Pogacar, in the grand scheme, is sailing to a fourth Tour de France stage win. But does he want to fight for the stage?
13km to go: Arensman, for a third time, lifts the pace, standing on the pedals. Pogacar still looks unruffled. Vingegaard draws alongside Pogacar and maybe has a quick word …
13.5km to go: Now Ben Healy attacks, from back down the road. Onley follows. Lipowitz follows …
Arensman, having bridged back to Pogacar and Vingegaard, attacks again. Pogacar lifts his own pace and stays with the Ineos rider. Vingegaard stays with him.
14km to go: Arensman attacks! Pogacar follows immediately. And then Pogacar counterattacks! He’s decided it’s time to go! Vingegaard responds and stays on his rival’s wheel.
14.5km to go: Gall accelerates at the front. This is significant stuff from AG2R, they are putting the hurt on a lot of riders in this group.
15km to go: The yellow-jersey wearer Pogacar looks completely comfortable, sitting third wheel. He’s just getting a nice little lead-out from AG2R here.
15.5km to go: Aurelien Paret-Peintre drops out of the front group. Callum Scotson is the man setting the pace.
Lipowitz will be happy with this. He’s sitting on Onley’s wheel. Surely Onley will try something? Or rather, surely he’ll try something if he’s got the legs. Maybe staying with this elite group is the limit for him.
16km to go: This is a strong move from Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale. A stage win is up for grabs, as well as fifth place in GC if Roglic collapses on this climb.
Mind you, if Pogacar stays in the lead group, he’ll naturally win the stage.
17km to go: Onley sits sixth wheel. No, then Gall (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale) moves up with a teammate or two. Scotson and Paret-Peintre are there with him.
17.5km to go: Narvaez is on the front now for UAE. Adam Yates has been dropped by the front group, or rather has dropped back and is struggling to keep the pace. Pogacar is loitering with intent.
18.5km to go: Roglic is, as Rowe predicted, cooked.
Oh well. He gave us some excitement – the dream of a daring solo stage win – and isn’t that what really counts?
20km to go: We’re about to hit the final HC climb of this year’s Tour!
We? They.
Wellens leads the way into the foot of the climb. Narvaez is on his wheel, then it’s Pogacar in yellow. This looks ominous for, well, everyone else.
21km to go: Wellens, having caught Roglic, looks across and gives him a subtle wave of respect. He doesn’t lift his hand off the handlebars but nonetheless the gesture is clear.
22km to go: Onley, Scotland’s hope for the podium, has one teammate in the group of favourites: Thomas van den Broek. One way or another we are going to see fireworks on the road to La Plagne.
24km to go: Only 11sec for Roglic. Wellens has shut this down efficiently, to say the least. Kelly, on commentary was just saying he doesn’t see why Roglic should work for Lipowitz, as he won’t be able to help him that much on the final climb anyway.
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27km to go: It’s a group of 26 with the yellow jersey. Pogacar has Adam Yates, Narvaez and Wellens with him.
Vingegaard has Simon Yates and Victor Campanaerts. I don’t know where Sepp Kuss is, but he’s not in the yellow jersey group.
28km to go: “If Roglic rides the valley full-gas, at the bottom of the climb, he’ll be pretty much cooked,” opines Luke Rowe. “He should sit up, save what energy he can, and help Lipowitz on the final climb.”
But what about panache, Luke??
30km to go: The front of the race is now on a flat section of about 10km. Roglic, out on his own, is powering on towards the base of the climb to La Plagne. However, with a gap of 40sec, he surely doesn’t have enough time to resist the attacks that will surely come among the GC favourites from behind.
32km to go: Roglic grabs a drink and something to eat from a team helper. He looks as focused as a hitman with a bag of cement and a map to the river, as Sid Waddell once said.
33km to go: “The noise of those disc brakes is horrendous!” emails Denis.
They are a bit screechy.
34km to go: The commentators were just saying that these conditions – half wet, half dry – are the most difficult and dangerous for descending. The point being it’s unpredictable, from what corner to the next, how much grip you’ll get on the road.
36km to go: And what, if anything, can Visma do to Pogacar on the final climb?
39km to go: Roglic is going all-out for the stage win. Surely, we have to say chapeau to Roglic and Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe, in going for glory? They could end up with a stage win and keep Lipowitz on the podium too. What does Onley have in the legs for the final climb? How has Lipowitz recovered after yesterday’s exertions?
40km to go: Roglic is flying down the descent. The gap between the front of the race and the yellow jersey group is a minute. Back down the road, Vauquelin is 2mins down.
48km to go: “I’m surprised by Matt White’s comments on The Pog,” emails Roland. “At not quite 27 years old, if he merely shows as much longevity as his countryman The Rog, he could well be around at the very top for some time to come … Unless of course the next big thing (Seixas, Onley, Lipowitz?) soon develops and gobbles him all up.”
50km to go: There is now a long, long descent to the foot of the final climb. It’s 35km to 40km before the climb to La Plagne begins.
At this stage, while there is some activity in the race, it’s relatively serene. Safe to say that will not be the case on the final climb. Will Onley or Lipowitz have the legs to attack?
