Bonjour! Welcome one and all to live coverage of the 19th stage of the Tour de France. The penultimate mountain stage and it's an absolutely brutal profile, 213 kilometres of Pyrenean hell as the riders go from Bagneres-de-Bigorre, over seven mountain passes, to our summit finish at the Plateau de Beille (15.9km @ 7.9%). One Hors Categorie climb, two Cat.1s, two Cat.2s and three Cat.3s await, and so there's plenty of KOM points on offer if anyone dares challenge Dominik Nerz. The profile could be inviting for any daring GC man who needs time as well, with the triptique of climbs with 70-50km to go with little descending you could bring quite a gap into the final climb. If anyone was to do it, surely it'd be the Basque rider who's been so good and so bad so far, Beñat Intxausti.
However in the GC race there's one man everybody is watching, and that is Simon Spilak, who conceded exactly two minutes to Rein Taaramae after a great ride from the Estonian and some bizarre tactics from the Slovenian. Everybody will be wondering whether or not he can strike back today after the blow to his position and the mental battle. We know he is capable of leaving Taaramae behind - but it's easier said that done. Behind the race for third is even closer, as Sicard tries to complete a lovely race for him by holding off the more favoured Gesink just 31 seconds behind him.
Not so many riders joke about on the startline today as they did in the earlier stages. Almost everybody has a role to play, even if it survival, as this is the most crucial hurdle: the ASO have decreed everybody who finishes today gets a free pass to Paris due to the unpredictability of tomorrow's 65km stage!
Looks like every team interested in this breakaway has got representation (except Bennelong who are clearly having some sort of episode wherein they do the opposite of what their manager says in the press every day), 11 men will fight it out over the climbs today and maybe even someone can taste the success of Sergis yesterday and take a stage victory at the Plateau de Beille: Galta (13th GC, 27'26 | 6th KOM, 66pts | 1 Stage Win) Portela Egger Shapira Kruijswijk (35th GC, 56'48 | 14th KOM, 28pts | 2nd Yesterday) Flügel Nerz (27th GC, 42'58 | KOM Leader, 168pts | 13th Points, 57pts) Bevin (44th KOM, 1h08'30 | 10th KOM, 32pts) Cink Kunshin Reichenbach (33rd GC, 53'42).
A highly capable group, obviously the most interesting names are Nerz who will surely wrap up the KOM win today even if he only gains a few points, Galta who will be attacking the top 10 on GC here and must be kept in check, as well as a shot at another stage win and the KOM podium, Flügel who will look to repeat yesterday's trick of staying in the top 25 on GC by getting a breakaway headstart, and the duo of Kruiswijk and Bevin, who are in the breakaway again despite being in the fight for the stage win just yesterday, where they came an agonizingly close second and third respectively. Can either go one better today? Bevin obviously may have to do some work for his teammate Nerz, the more likely option for the stage win.
Meanwhile as the break was forming Galta signalled that this won't just be a GC raid as he sprinted ahead of Shapira and Nerz to the KOM sprint at the Côte de Capvern. 195km to go and a gap already of over three minutes.
Nerz is back on top at the Cat.3 Col des Ares ahead of Galta. The gap is up to nearly five minutes but the breakaway will want to add another few at least. Perhaps Galta should have brought Vangstad or someone along as a domestique as Nerz has done to push out this gap for GC reasons.
A ding-dong battle on the very tough Col de Portet d'Aspet, a Cat.2 climb and so nice for Nerz to win as his gap grows to 99 points over Simon Spilak. The breakaway's gap meanwhile is up to seven minutes and growing.
Flügel is dropped for a while and only just joins back on before the very tough Cat.1 Col de la Core.
Galta with a strong showing at the top of the Col de la Core beating Nerz into second. The Norwegian is now second in the classification, 98 points behind Nerz.
The group split in two (with Flügel losing a further three minutes) on the climb with Egger, Shapira and Kruiswijk going with the KOM chasing duo, presumably they'll wait slightly for the second group (especially as Nerz won't work with Bevin behind). 98.5km to go and the peloton now almost ten minutes behind, and worth mentioning that this puts Fredrik Galta in provisional seventh, a few seconds ahead of Wellens!
Eventually only Cink and Portela returned by the foot of the Col de la Latrape with 75km to go.
The closest battle yet over the Latrape, as Nerz springs a surprise and goes early and Galta runs out of road to peg the German back. 70km to go and two more climbs crested in the next 20 kilometres! A crucial period of the race for breakaway riders to stay at the front and maintain or increase the peloton gap - if they still have over 10 minutes coming off the Port de Lars climb with 50km left then they can start dreaming! 13 minutes at the top back to the peloton, Galta in provisional sixth and Nerz in the top 15!
Nerz and Galta going for it now, they like where this is taking them in the GC race and they ride away from the others, much like they did on Stage 13 together! Meanwhile we can see the huge gap down to the peloton, where poor Aleksandar Flügel is about to be swept up, and will likely pay dearly for this effort!
Now Galta, with still 3km to go to the summit of the Col d'Agnes, is attacking Nerz and looking to go solo with still 60km remaining! I say deja, you say...
And boy is he going for it! I used all the superlatives about the courage and panache of this young climber on Stage 13, and he only went and did it on La Toussuire. He carries a minute with him over Nerz and approximately 16 on the peloton as he crests the Col d'Agnes, a short descent before he goes again on the Port de Lars!
Nerz passes at + 1'30 and sturggling
Kruiswijk at + 2'53
Shapira + 3'16
Egger + 3'55. No coverage on our GPS or cameras of those in the middle!
If Freddy Galta can recover his strength on this long descent this could be another very special day for him, as at this rate he's gone! Over 2 minutes back to Nerz who must be really pissed off about what looks like another missed stage win at this point. However still 50km to go and anything can happen! More interestingly though is the humongous 18-minute gap to the peloton - that's enough to put him in the top 5, which surely must be worrying Festina and even Berg and AirFrance!
Nerz meanwhile at 18 minutes ahead is into 11th in the general classification!
Buchmann leads the peloton over the Col d'Agnes over 20 minutes behind Fredrik Galta, who is now on the provisional podium! Surely they get a wriggle on soon? I've never seen anything like it! They're going so slow Flügel not only didn't get caught but has actually extended his gap, which for some reason he chooses to maintain!
And indeed a teammate of Gesink in Destribois comes to the front and begins to chip away at the gap, which is now down to 19 minutes to Galta. 50km to go for the peloton, whilst 15 kilometres up the road Galta is off the descent and now has 20km of valley road in which he'll surely lose some time before the brutal ascent to the Plateau de Beille!
Galta gladly takes the 6 bonus seconds here in Tarascon-sur-Arege, 10km until the Plateau de Beille and the gap is around 18 minutes.
Nerz has received a reinforcement in a very determined Steven Kruiswijk, who has worked his way back on here in fact going the fastest since the summit of Agnes as Nerz hasn't conceded any more time yet, still just two minutes behind and neither of these two are out of the race yet!
Galta hits the foot of the climb to Plateau de Beille with 2'09 in hand over his nearest rivals and 16'57 over the bunch, putting him in fifth overall and meaning he has a decent crack at seventh if he rides really well, which would be a dream ride if he gets the stage win and a podium place in the KOM classification to go with it! 16 of the longest kilometres of his life coming up averaging a tad under 8%, this is a brutal final climb on any day, nevermind this day!
Nerz doesn't want the assistance of Steven Kruiswijk any more and attacks at the foot of the climb, instantly gapping the Dutchman and eating 15 seconds into Galta's advantage - but can he sustain this momentum to chase down the Norwegian? Remember he burst like this chasing down Galta on the way to La Toussuire, but ultimately couldn't carry on and just lost more time!
This man has learned from experience how to finish this ride, for all intents and purposes he rode this climb before just six days ago! He's staying solid and not worrying or celebrating any fluctuations in the gap, but he has ground out 20 more seconds on Dominik Nerz, 11km to go and he has over two minutes again to the German, and 17 to the peloton, and Fredrik Strand Galta looks to have things under control. 50km already done, but this final 10km will hurt the most. He is staying calm, but make no doubt about it, these final kilometres are a world of hurt for the Norwegian!
It's a case of if rather than when some riders will attack as the peloton hit the climb 17 and a half minutes after Galta. The answer will have to do with the few domestiques left, one or two to each main contender as Buchmann and Kransoperov set tempo for Taaramae. Schelling had a horrible stage yesterday and will attack if he has any form at all today, 14th is not where he belongs! Intxausti and Barguil, will they ride aggressively as normal or calm down? Surely the latter continues his long-shot quest at the top 5 today by attacking Lecuisinier early and hard again?
But the big one is Spilak - an experienced contender such as he will not leave those 80 seconds to a final kilometre dig, or even worse, to tomorrow! He will attack in the last 10 kilometres somewhere, when Buchmann and Krasnoperov are done, surely.
Volvo come to the front now in service of Wellens! The first time we've really seen the Belgian's mountain support, but there's no better time than this as they look to protect his spot from Galta, who is provisionally fourth but in reality once he loses some time, is still a huge threat to Wellens!
But it's not working yet as the gap actually goes back out over 18 minutes!
8km left now for Freddy Galta, he's opened up his gap a little, two and a half minutes now over Dominik Nerz and this is a brilliant ride from the Norwegian who makes use of the lull (despite Volvo trying to chase him down) in the peloton to extend his gap a little and still putting himself in the podium fight currently.
But that lull is over as Keinath attacks, the German again on the offensive in this Tour de France. Behind him is a proactive Dekker, not only protecting his own spot here but looking to attack Wellens who isn't ready for it! It looks like Beñat Intxausti trying to counterattack or follow behind, and he's got to with these two, either side of him on GC, dancing away!
However it's actually the Basque's teammate Rui Pedro Vinhas, Mr. Party Pooper himself back to his old ways after sacrificing his own breakaway hopes for his teammate's GC! He certainly hasn't forgotten how to put out fires and make me look like a dick for getting excited about doomed attacks!
6km to go here, just six kilometres and Galta can taste victory as the ski resort of Plateau de Beille, and the sun, comes into view for the first time! Come on boy, keep going! Nearly three minutes to Nerz now, he's not coming back! The gap to watch now is the still 18-minute one to the peloton!
As Koch increases the pace to cut down the advantage of Galta and starts shedding dead wood, we have a major casualty in the GC race as Vicenzo Nibali is suffering with still 12km to go in the bunch, he won't be coming back and neither will his top 10 hopes sadly. An unfortunate thing to see someone fading like this, but it can happen to the best of them over three weeks.
Five kilometre banner for Freddy Galta and he's staying out of sight of Dominik Nerz around these hairpins, which must be demoralising for the German who can only pray for his rival's collapse at this point as the gap nears three minutes.
Keinath again with 11km to go, you can't keep this man down, he should be working on hanging on to his top 10 spot but in fact he's attacking Intxausti and Dekker here once more, and perhaps going after the advantage of Galta, which is still over 17 minutes, himself! You just can't keep this man down, a great move here.
Schelling, as forecast, wants in on this early move and tries to follow but he's tagged by Ricco with Spilak in tow, and with Rein Taaramae isolated and a few wheels back is this the time for the green jersey to go?
Interesting tactic here from the Slovenian who goes to the front to pass Schelling himself, not attacking but perhaps testing the legs? Looking to cut some dead wood or cause a gap with less energy? Who knows. Meanwhile Keinath got away from Schelling and is 24 seconds ahead.
A sneaky move as Ricco sat up and forced Taaramae to shut the gap himself, and now some pressure being applied as Gesink and Taaramae following Spilak have a small gap, which Sicard has to close! 8.5km left for the GC men, and Keinath has only 10 seconds now.
Keinath caught not long after, and the gap to Galta down to sixteen minutes, putting him fifth overall still!
And here we go, Simon Spilak isn't giving up on this Tour de France and why should he? 8km to go and the man in green wants his yellow back, and he's attacking Rein Taaramae to get it!
Gesink tries to follow but it looks like as it was on La Toussuire and Mont Ventoux, so it will be on Plateau de Beille as Spilak and Taaramae leave the rest behind, and Spilak may even leave Taaramae behind, this is some intense attacking and there's a small gap!
I may have jumped the gun a bit there, Spilak isn't going all in here and sits up slightly, allowing Gesink and Lecuisinier back on - but not Romain Sicard, and this is bad, bad news for third on GC! Gesink already nearly overtaken him on GC, so small is their gap!
But their respite was only brief as Simon Spilak attacks again, relentless racing here, the Slovenian is a man dead set on beating Rein Taaramae, what a rivalry this is here, and pay attention all of you at home, call the kids in, show them this and don't any of you forget it: we have a battle for the ages playing out between the two best climbers in the world, right here at Le Tour de France!
1500m left for Galta, so close to home and an epic victory in the Pyrenees. At last race radio update his gap was 15'32 to Lecusinier and Gesink - and so still fifth overall but that seems unlikely to stick as Lecuisinier has 6 and a half kilometres to recover the last 50 seconds needed! However the likes of Barguil and Wellens, nevermind those below, should still be worried!
Speaking of Wellens, he's not going so well as he's come off the worst of the top 10 contenders along with Kangert, ahead of the main group but he's losing time to Dekker, Intxausti and Keinath up the road! Dekker not far away with Schelling, both paying for their earlier efforts, whilst Sicard leads the group with Intxausti, Bevin, Keinath and Barguil not far behind Lecuisinier and Gesink.
An update on those breakaway riders still ahead of Spilak and Taaramae (who are at 14'57 behind Galta):
Nerz + 3'19
Krusiwijk + 5'30
Shapira + 7'21
Egger + 8'06 all look safe to be the top 5 of the stage but it'll be a battle for Portela (+ 10'29) and Cink (+ 11'58) to place, as they have less than five minutes to the Big Two.
What an image, Spilak and Taaramae digging so deep for this yellow jersey, both suffering so much and there's still 6km to go! Who will crack first - will Spilak lose his shot at yellow, or will Taaramae finally relent to this pressure and give Spilak a chance at reclaiming the GC lead?
Sicard recovering here and distancing his companions as he looks to make it back up to Gesink, what a battle these two are having as well don't forget, so much yo-yo-ing from both parties so far in this Tour de France it's amazing they haven't got their string all tied up yet!
He's not so worried about the last seconds of this GC raid, perhaps he has nothing left to give, but all that is irrelevant for this blissful moment at Plateau de Beille, as Freddy Galta takes a simply magnificent solo victory. 60km since he left behind Dominik Nerz and for the second time in this Tour de France we can only watch in astonishment at the panache and strength of this warrior. What a ride!
Of course we can't forget that this is not just a glorious stage win, but a heroic GC raid. His latest time gap was 14 minutes to Lecuisinier, which would put him fifth on GC, but given how fast the GC men are going, that won't last. More likely we'll be watching Warren Barguil, on whom he needs a very possible 12'16!
Back to the GC fight and we've missed a bit here, Dekker and Wellens recovering well to rejoin this Intxausti group, which Barguil now attacks! Meanwhile Sicard not quite caught up to Gesink and Lecuisinier yet.
Dominik Nerz musters a small wave to the crowd and a grimace as he passes the finish line here three and a half minutes down at Plateau de Beille. This is yet another second place to Galta in very similar circumstances, and his fourth stage top 10 from breakaways without a stage win, which must be an awfully frustrating thing. Can he ride the 65km of his life tomorrow to hold off the GC battle?
One thing to mention is he too is on a GC raid today, though he probably wasn't expecting it this morning. His latest time gap to (his teammate) Bongiorno in fifteenth was fourteen minutes - he needs almost exactly eleven and so it could happen that he makes his way into some nice GC points! Of course, whichever side of the Italian he finishes on won't make too much difference for his team!
Barguil catches up to Sicard now and the latter is having trouble shutting this gap to Gesink, who is not taking enough time right now to move into third but may well do by the finish line! Behind Intxausti leaves behind Dekker and co. - he needs two minutes which he probably won't get today, but he could make a fist of going for seventh or eighth with a performance here. However maybe that should be eighth or ninth considering they'll all be overtaken by Galta!
Spilak leads Taaramae into the final three kilometres and I think he's saving his legs for a final big attack soon! Taaramae doing everything right, not taking a turn or giving Spilak so much as an inch to play with!
And now Robert Gesink looks behind and sees Sicard suffering, and he absolutely goes for it! This is his time to step onto the podium!
Lecuisinier manages to hold on but that's little bother to Gesinkl, who now has 50 seconds' advantage and is sitting in third overall! Lecusinier happy to be along for the ride, his latest gap is 12'36 to Galta's time at this point and so his fifth position is safe, as is the sixth place of Barguil here it looks like.
A second straight stage podium for Steven Kruiswijk and really this was what he could have hoped for - a chance at the top 25 on GC and third place behind two top climbers in Galta and Nerz. Right now the former may not happen for him as he was dropped so early by Nerz, but never say never!
Spilak raising the pressure slowly and with 2km to go and Taaramae looking comfortable that just won't do. He needs to attack, and soon!
Idan Shapira and Mike Aaron Egger won't be too displeased with top 5 finishes on the stage here, holding off Spilak and Taaramae by a couple of minutes. Great rides both, but this wasn't their day to fight for the win with two big guns in the move.
Flamme rouge for Simon Spilak and Rein Taaramae here and I think Spilak's done all he can! Can he take any time in a sprint - or will Taaramae come around and extend his lead?
All status quo in the GC battle behind.
And no, there's nothing between these two men at the Plateau de Beille! Spilak threw what he could at Taaramae but the gap remains the same: 80 seconds between these two titans. Spilak looked the stronger but couldn't make it pay today - he'll throw everything at tomorrow's 65km bonanza, but today Rein Taaramae looked up to the task. The stage is set for another titanic duel on the new mythique of the Col de Portet, and what a way to christen this new finish tomorrow!
Gesink and Lecuisinier sprint home for seconds and pass the former's teammate Portela, who holds on for a credible top 10. The time for this trio is 11'27 down on Galta, and so we start the count of 31 seconds to Romain Sicard!
Two big countdowns here as Warren Barguil stops the clock at 12'10, which isn't good enough for either of them I'm afraid and so Robert Gesink goes into third and Freddy Galta is now sixth. However both of those are awfully close, just 12 and six seconds the gaps and two more very tight races tomorrow!
Not the best of days for Intxausti, it looks like he won't be overtaking Dekker or Wellens behind, and so he slips to tenth as Galta storms above them.
Same goes for that trio and so seventh to tenth is now eighth to eleventh for Nico Keinath slipping out of the top 10, and Dekker to Intxausti now being exactly 60 seconds gap!
Behind the top 15 contenders all slip a place to Galta but finish together more or less, other than Nibali who will lose about two minutes to the likes of Kangert and Schelling here and fall into thirteenth, below the former. The big countdown here is where will Nerz enter this race, and it looks like he'll slot into fifteenth, a minute ahead of Bongiorno!
Further down there's juicy battles for tomorrow throughout the top 10, in particular the sub-15 second gaps between Gesink and Sicard, and Galta and Barguil. Exciting stuff.
Dominik Nerz had now officially wrapped up the KOM jersey, mathematically at least. A huge gap to Galta in second, who wouldn't be able to chase it anyway as he's now deep into the top 10! Chapeau to the German, who now surely is setting his sights on a stage win on the Col de Portet to complete a fantastic Tour de France for him.
Tomorrow is one of the most talked-about innovations in cycling this year, as the riders take on a 65km stage from Bagneres-du-Luchon to the new finish, and highest paved pass in the Alps, the Col de Portet! The Tour has paved and discovered a new Pyreneean icon for the 21st century, much like La Planche des Belles Filles in the Vosges, but this is a truly tough and decisive climb. Let's not ignore the Peyresourde and Val Louron-Azet, two very tough Cat.1 climbs in their own right, even if this isn't the side of the Peyresourde we're used to! It should be a dramatic and explosive stage, and many say this could be the future of mountain cycling - though I for one wouldn't want to lose the 200+ stages such as we had today that make these races so special.
As said at the start of the stage, everyone who finished inside the time cut today gets a free pass, and the riders went hard and all but one did so. The unlucky one was Stepniak, who won't join us tomorrow or in Paris, and leaves Fablok with only one sprinter left after Mohs departed in the Alps!
