ALPE D’HUEZ, France, 25th July, 2026 (WAM) — Becoming only the second Yellow Jersey in history to take victory on Alpe d’Huez, Tadej Pogačar won stage 19 of the Tour de France and produced a performance that will be remembered for generations.
Attacking 12km from the summit of the mythical mountain, Pogačar closed a three-minute deficit to the breakaway and rode clear of his final opponents with 800m to go. As he posted up to celebrate at the finish line, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man clocked in a record-setting ascent of Alpe d’Huez in the process.
Now a winner of five stages at this year’s Tour de France, Pogačar’s time of 35 minutes and 26 seconds is the fastest ascent ever recorded up the sport’s most famous mountain. With this latest conquest, the defending champion extends his lead in the Yellow Jersey to over seven minutes, as the Slovenian bids to win the Tour for a record-equalling fifth time.
Pogačar’s young teammate, Isaac del Toro, stretched out his advantage in the White Jersey, with the Mexican putting more time into his rival for the final podium, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM). Del Toro took seventh place on stage 19, and sits third overall heading into the final stage in the mountains.
On Friday afternoon, victory was in the balance right the way up the final climb, as Pogačar passed rider after rider in pursuit of the front of the race.
Earlier on in stage 19, a large breakaway had built up a lead of over four minutes to the chasing peloton. With UAE Team Emirates-XRG depleted by the loss of Brandon McNulty on stage 18, and a bout of illness which had knocked back a few of its riders, it was a tough ask to marshal the front of the peloton.
Pogačar said: “It is very cool to win up here, and it was a crazy atmosphere the whole climb. It was thanks to all the team that I could pull it off in the end. I was riding for the teammates today, and I am super happy to take the win.”
Source: Emirates News Agency