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“I thought it was perfectly reasonable for Roglic to attack and try and get a podium place,” says McEwen of those Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe tactics yesterday. “But after yesterday, now, today, they need to focus on securing a podium place. As a team, they best thing they can do is that Primoz does stick with Lipowitz.”
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“I don’t understand why Roglic wasn’t required to support Lipowitz yesterday,” emails James. “From a Red Bull team perspective, it may end up costing them a podium place. It was fantastic seeing Onley emerge through the mist yesterday and stay with the top two when Jonas launched his attack near the top.”
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Luke Rowe points out that the shortened stage is bad news for Oscar Onley’s podium charge. “If you want to make up time, you want more climbs, a harder day,” he says.
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Thierry Gouvenou, of ASO, says there was a risk of contagion after the outbreak of disease among cattle, and that having spoken to the farming community, they “wanted us to be aware of their despair”.
Hence the route change.
“Honestly, for me, it doesn’t change much,” he says of the sporting stakes.
“The Col de Pré is the most demanding of this year’s Tour and a perfect place to launch an attack. But will the riders have the energy?”
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Updated at 13.22 BST
“I’m not sure they made a mistake,” Matt White said of Red Bull’s-Bora Hansgrohe’s tactics (speaking on yesterday’s TNT highlights). “I think they were probably looking for that elusive stage win. And I think Florian Lipowitz just spent too much time on his own, on the toughest day of the Tour de France. The big question is does he recover for tomorrow? Because he did look very strong today. And he missed a couple of opportunities where he could have been dragged over in a group in front there, that would have given him a lot more recovery. But if he pulls up well tomrorow, it’s going to be a very, very close battle for that final place on the podium, and a life-changing experience for either of those gentleman [Lipowitz or Onley].
Oscar Onley (right) follows Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard. Photograph: Thibault Camus/APShare
Updated at 13.16 BST
PA Media’s story below on today’s route:
Changes have been made to Friday’s stage 19 of the Tour de France due to the culling of cows taking place in the Col des Saisies area. The discovery of a contagious disease amongst cattle has meant the route will be shortened from 129.9 kilometres to 95km with two climbs – the 11.3km Cote d’Hery-sur-Ugine and the 13.7km Col des Saisies – removed.
An outbreak of nodular dermatitis meant the affected herd has needed to be culled and race organisers have taken the decision to divert the route in light of “distress” amongst those farmers concerned. In a statement ahead of the Albertville-La Plagne stage, the Tour said: “The discovery of an outbreak of contagious nodular dermatitis affecting cattle in a herd located specifically in the Col des Saisies has necessitated the culling of the animals.
“In light of the distress experienced by the affected farmers and in order to preserve the smooth running of the race, it has been decided, in agreement with the relevant authorities, to modify the route of Stage 19 (Albertville-La Plagne) and to avoid the ascent to the Col des Saisies.
“The ceremonial start will take place as planned at the exit of Albertville. After a 7km parade, riders will head towards the D925, where the official start will be given. The race will then rejoin the original route shortly before Beaufort (at km 52.4 on the original schedule).
“Due to this change, which notably bypasses the Col des Saisies, the stage will now cover a total distance of 95km instead of the originally planned 129.9km.”
During Thursday’s stage 18, Tadej Pogacar conquered his demons on the Col de la Loze to stretch his advantage in yellow amid a hailstorm, as Ben O’Connor wrapped up the stage win.
On the mountain where Pogacar famously cracked in 2023 as Jonas Vingegaard rode away to his second Tour crown, Pogacar was the one gaining time two years later as a late dig at the summit saw him add 11 seconds to an overall lead that now stands at 4min 26sec.
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Updated at 12.54 BST
“Hard to disagree with Adam Blythe’s take on Visma’s tactics,” emails Peter. “But what were Bora doing, leaving Lipowitz to lose time, riding alone up Col de la Loze, with Roglic also dropped by the leaders and no hope of moving up on GC?”
Thanks for your email Peter and yes, I think this is a very interesting question. What are Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe playing at? What were their instructions to the riders yesterday, and what will they be today? Were those instructions ignored? Lipowitz will presumably be knackered after riding on his own for so long yesterday, but he also knows if he successfully man-marks Onley today then he will take a massive step to wrapping up third on the podium.
If Roglic attacks again, though, will teammates help him, or will they help Lipowitz, or what? The rest of the Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team seemed to go AWOL on the road to Courchevel. If anyone has any insight on the situation at Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe feel free to let me know on email.
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“Clearly the only strategy Visma have left is to try to run Pogacar over with their team car,” emails Bob. “That will definitely work.”
“Oh.”
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Good question about the shortened stage. On the one hand, you might think the riders would be happy to see 30km or so and a couple of climbs taken out, given all they’ve been through since Lille. On the other hand, maybe it’ll mean it’s much faster and furious-er, and all the more painful for it?
I think we would have seen attacks regardless, with plenty of stage hunters on the loose, so I am not convinced it’ll make all that much difference.
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Updated at 12.37 BST
“What’s the equivalent of a cycling Hail Mary?,” emails Joe. “Surely that’s what Visma need now …”
“And what changes will teams be making tactically with the shortened stage, do you think we’ll have a load of attacks from the off from those who it might be the last chance for a stage win?”
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From the second rest day, here’s an ITV Cycling interview with Onley, via the magic of Twitter:
“The team have a lot of confidence in me. Maybe sometimes I need to have a little bit more confidence in myself”@friebos sat down with Oscar Onley to assess the first 2 weeks and look ahead to the Alps in week 3 🏴#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/qSSvtLV19J
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 21, 2025
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Earlier in the race, Jeremy Whittle wrote about the young British talent at this Tour.
Oscar Onley now has the podium in sight – especially if Lipowitz and Roglic appear to have been given the OK by their team to fight each other, which it seems will simply open the door for the young Scottish rider to find his way on to the podium.
“For Oscar Onley, his second Tour has been a world apart from his debut, in 2024, when he finished 39th. The 22-year-old from Kelso admitted that he was overwhelmed on his first appearance in the race. “I really struggled during the first week,” he recalled. “I was wondering: ‘What am I doing here?’”
“This year, Onley has coped much better, holding on to a high overall placing through one of the toughest and fastest opening weeks in Tour history. “Once you’re racing, it’s just another bike race,” he said, “but it’s the scale of everything around it, the expectations, the media.”
“His steady progression has been marked by stage wins in the 2025 Tour of Switzerland, second place overall in the Tour of Britain and third place overall in this year’s Swiss national tour. Onley’s team expects there may be a drop-off in his performances as he goes deeper into the Tour, the longest race he has ever ridden, but he is already looking further ahead.
“I rode Mont Ventoux recently for the first time, which may not be a good thing, but I’m looking forward to going there in the Tour.””
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Updated at 12.19 BST
GC top 10 before Stage 19
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 66hr 55min 42sec
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +4min 26sec
3. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +11min 01sec
4. Oscar Onley Team Picnic PostNL +11min 23sec
5. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +12min 49sec
6. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R-La Mondiale) +15min 36sec
7. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +16min 15sec
8. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +18min 31sec
9. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +25min 41sec
10. Ben O’Connor (Team Jayco AlUla) +29min 19sec
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Updated at 12.14 BST
We’ve got plenty of time before the stage starts. So let’s discuss one of the key talking points from yesterday. People were piling in on Visma-Lease A Bike’s tactics, but one of the TNT Sports pundits (Rowe or Blythe, I can’t remember who) said there wasn’t much they could have done differently.
It did play into the hands of Pogacar to be reunited with Adam Yates and Jhonatan Narvaez on the final climb. But the flip side of that is, had Visma kept the hammer down completely from the Col de la Madeleine, then Vingegaard and Pogacar may well have been duking it out alone from very early on the final ascent to Courchevel. And there would only be one winner there. Right?
Pogi and Vin. Photograph: Dirk Waem/Sprint Cycling/GodingI/Shutterstock
The problem with all these supposed tactical masterplans is that Pogacar is simply on better form than Vingegaard and is capable of dealing with pretty much anything thrown at him, on his own if necessary. In theory it would make sense to isolate Pogacar and have multiple Visma riders set an infernal pace on a long climb, but achieving the first bit of that plan (isolating him) is the hardest thing, in the heat of a Tour de France stage.
Anyway, if you were the Visma-Lease A Bike sports director, what would you have done differently yesterday? And what would be your plan today? You can email me.
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Updated at 12.01 BST
Meanwhile, what’s the vibe in the bike race? Ben O’Connor produced a stunning solo win on the climb to Courchevel yesterday:
Tadej Pogacar not only covered the attacks from Visma-Lease A Bike, again he was strong enough to skip away from his rival Jonas Vingegaard at the end, and nab a few seconds in the overall race. His advantage is now 4min 26sec, and Vingegaard is the only rider within 10 minutes of the reigning champion. In short, it is utter dominance.
Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) is third overall, 11min 01sec behind Pogacar, while the 22-year-old Oscar Onley is knocking on the door, 22sec behind. This is from Jeremy Whittle’s report:
“That’s not much,” Picnic PostNL’s Onley said of the slim margin between him and the third-placed German Lipowitz, on the eve of the Tour’s final summit finish at La Plagne. “We’ll give it everything tomorrow.”
“After being dropped by Pogacar and Vingegaard towards the top of the Col de la Madeleine, Onley stayed calm and finally rejoined the main group on the valley roads leading to Courchevel. “Visma set a hard pace,” Onley said of Vingegaard’s team, “I just did what I could.”
He added: “I wouldn’t say I kept my cool, but I still felt good. I’m just not at the level of those guys when they attack. It showed at the end when they went pretty hard up there.””
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Updated at 11.51 BST
If you missed it: read Jeremy Whittle’s exclusive on the latest questions hanging over Team Ineos/Team Sky.
“David Rozman, a long-term member of Ineos Grenadiers’ staff, has left the Tour de France after the International Testing Agency (ITA) launched an investigation into alleged messages he exchanged in 2012 with the subsequently convicted German doping doctor Mark Schmidt.
“The allegations stem from a recent documentary made by the German TV outlet ARD, which linked Rozman to Schmidt but did not name him, with further media reports including alleged texts between the Ineos staff member and Schmidt from June 2012 when the team were racing as Team Sky.”
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Updated at 11.41 BST
Preamble
Today’s stage is hard. No change there. Although the route between Albertville and La Plagne, the last proper mountain stage of this year’s Tour, has been shortened at the last minute due to an outbreak of disease among cattle in the local area.
Initially the route was 129.9km, but the riders will now cover a little under 95km. A news update on the official Tour site reads: “The discovery of an outbreak of contagious nodular dermatitis affecting cattle in a herd located specifically in the Col des Saisies has necessitated the culling of the animals. In light of the distress experienced by the affected farmers and in order to preserve the smooth running of the race, it has been decided, in agreement with the relevant authorities, to modify the route of Stage 19 (Albertville–La Plagne) and to avoid the ascent to the Col des Saisies.”
There are three categorised climbs on the revised route: the Col de Pré (HC), the Cormet de Roseland (category two) and the HC climb to the ski resort of La Plagne to finish. The GC looks to be sewn up but there is plenty more up for grabs, especially after the Scottish rider Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) rode to within 22sec of third-placed Florian Lipowitz on yesterday’s stage to Courchevel.
The official update on Le Tour website explains more on the route: “The ceremonial start will take place as planned at the exit of Albertville. After a 7km parade, riders will head towards the D925, where the official start will be given. The race will then rejoin the original route shortly before Beaufort (at km 52.4 on the original schedule).
“… As a result, the start in the neutral zone will be given at 2:30pm, one hour later than originally scheduled.”
C’est comme ça. Let’s go/Allez!
Stage start time: 13.45 UK/14.45 local time
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Updated at 11.34 BST