Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the final climbing showdown of this 2022 Tour of America! It's the final chance for the pure climbers (the more TT capable ones will get another chance tomorrow), and one out of just two remaining chances to shake up the GC!
We're in Modesto, California, for the start of stage 19. And if you think that the city's name has something to do with being modest - well, you're right. It should be named after William Ralston, founder of the Bank of California. The latter however declined and asked that another name be found. And because one of the Spanish railroad employees then exclaimed that Ralston was "muy modesto", the place got its current name.
What's less modest is the number of more than 200k inhabitants. Stanislaus County, whereof Modesto is the seat, ranks sixth among California's counties in farm production. And the Gallo Family Winery is even the US' largest family-owned winery. And the winery even is the biggest employer around! Modesto?
The city's most well-known personality probably is filmmaker George Lucas. I don't know if the organizers asked him to write the script for today's stage - but even if he didn't, I'm sure it will be an exciting one!
However, the first third of the race probably won't be too interesting - apart from the answer to the question of who will be in today's breakaway. After 50km heading north-west (rather west, then north, then west), we'll have today's first sprint point in Tracy.
And then comes 2nd category Patterson Pass (70km) - and with the current gap on top of the KoM standings, those 10 points could be pretty decisive in the end! However, after that first ascent, we'll get another potentially uninteresting 50km - including another interemdiate sprint in Livermore (82km).
But once arrived in Diablo, the grande finale will start! And just to warm up their legs, the riders will do the first - easier - half of the final climb, and then return back to the valley. And they'll tackle Mount Diablo again - this time all the way up! The whole climb - rated 1st category - has just 6.6% of average slope - but the second half, and especially the final kilomters, are definitely tough - and given that we're on day 19 of this Tour now, this final mountain of the race clearly has the potential of shaking up things once again!
Let's see if we'll get the devil cheering on the riders on Mount Diablo - or if we'll see a hell of a ride by some rider. The bookies don't fancy any real outsiders for the latter option, though. Their Top 3 are the GC Top 3, numbers 4-6 are GC numbers 4-6 - meaning we get Choi, Bennett and Pluchkin with three stars, and Ranaweera, Carapaz and Faglum Karlsson with two. Kritskiy, Nerz, Lunke and Kuss get one each - while GC numbers 7-10 miss out on the list.
In any case, the stage could have a major impact on the GC - remember that 2nd to 4th are within just 30", and from 8th to 10th there are even just 9"! But before we get to see how the GC favorites fare, let's take a look at what happened on the first 2/3 of the stage:
What happened so far
Today's weather is perfect for a dramatic stage, with dark clouds luring, and some wind blowing - however, we'll have headwind on the second half of the race, which might rather be hindering some surprise moves.
We'll see - anyway, the race is on!
Lunke and Eriksson were the first two attackers of the day - two riders who were quite a bit below their manager's expectations so far.
And obviously, Hoelgaard had to attack today as well! And no Hamilton so far - the latter's GC position probably kept him from joining the breakaway!
In the second wave we had Henao, Hoehn, Dunne, McKenna, Alexander and Perez, while Moreno Hernandez and Gillett were trying to catch up. Pedrero had just attacked the peloton and trailed by a minute - with the pack another 30" down.
And yet another group - and still no Hamilton! Knowing the pack probably wouldn't give him any leeway, the Aussie at least sent another teammate up front in an attempt to steal as many points as possible from Hoelgaard.
In this group of four, there were Costagli, Hocevar, Bouchard and Bayly.
The pack so far didn't worry about the escapees, with the teams of the GC Top 3 setting a very moderate pace.
No further attacks from the pack and a 4-minute advantage after a couple more kilometers means that those 16 riders were today's breakaway of the day:
Bayly
Gillett
McKenna
Dunne
Bouchard
Eriksson
Alexander
Perez
Lunke
Hoehn
Hoelgaard
Henao
Moreno Hernandez
Pedrero
Costagli
Hocevar
There are plenty of solid to good climbers in this group, with Lunke topping them all. Bouchard and Costagli are closest, but the latter lacks some physical stats after two years of declining.
Henao and Pedrero are next - in short, all but Perez, Hocevar and Eriksson are at least decent climbers, with the latter being the group's strongest pure puncheur. He might have picked the wrong stage for an attack, though...
We could observe that Bouchard, Bayly, Alexander and Dunne were not doing any work - all of them had a teammate, which might give them some advantage later on.
GC-wise, Hoehn is the biggest threat, being 20th pre-stage. Additionally, he's 3rd in the U25 standings. Bouchard (23rd), Pedrero (25th) and Hoelgaard (30th) are in the Top 30 as well.
If this group should make it to a line, this could be decisive for the team standings, with two riders of leader Amaysim present in the breakaway.
But it was a long way to go, still 125km to be raced.
25km later, the escapees arrived in Tracy - and did not sprint for the points under pouring rain:
Sprint - Tracy
1.
Gillett
10 (10)
-6"
2.
Eriksson
6 (35)
-4"
3.
Hocevar
4 (17)
-2"
4.
Costagli
2 (2)
5.
Moreno Hernandez
1 (36)
The peloton trailed by 7'16" already - could this rather unexpectedly even be a stage for the breakaway?
On top of Patterson Pass, we still had pouring rain - pretty symbolic for Amaysim, as their hopes of a KoM win might have gone down the drain here! And everyone wondered what Bayly and Gillett actually did in the breakaway, as they were not even trying to steal any points from Hoelgaard!
The Norwegian in the end was the strongest out of just three riders fighting for the points at all:
KoM - Patterson Pass (2nd)
1.
Hoelgaard
10 (98)
2.
Moreno Hernandez
8 (40)
3.
Pedrero
6 (11)
4.
McKenna
4 (20)
5.
Lunke
2 (24)
Hoelgaard now had a 5 points virtual lead over Hamilton - meaning that the latter would need to score on the final ascent to defend his KoM lead!
Which however wasn't too likely - even less so given that the pack still was 6'44" down at this point. 75km to go!
KoM points, sprint points - Hoelgaard just can't get enough of them!
Sprint - Livermore
1.
Hoelgaard
10 (85)
-6"
2.
Moreno Hernandez
6 (42)
-4"
3.
Costagli
4 (6)
-2"
4.
Hocevar
2 (15)
5.
Eriksson
1 (36)
With these 10 points, the Norwegian also moved up to 9th in the points standings - 15 points behind the next higher rider, though.
Lutsyshyn led the pack over the line 7 minutes later - with less than 65 kilometers to go, they definitely had to hurry up if the top climbers wanted to fight for the stage win!
Will they catch the breakaway? Will the escapees be fighting for the stage win? Which ones of the top GC riders will struggle today? We'll find out soon, as the leaders are approaching the first semi-climb of Mount Diablo!
LIVE +++ LIVE +++ LIVE
And here we go! As mentioned in the introductory part, this first half, which has to be climbed twice, is rather easy - and isn't even rewarded with KoM points. Still, 7.5km of climbing should be rather strength-sapping, let's see if everyone can keep up!
In fact, not everyone was able to keep up in the pack, as Taillefour trails by 5 minutes already. However, the time limit still shouldn't be an issue, given that we only have 30km left in today's stage.
But what will happen within those 30 kilometers? We'll likely get two races in one - one for the stage win, one for the GC - as the peloton still trails the breakaway by 7 minutes! On a 30km climb with 10% average slopes that might be possible to make up for, but most likely not on Mount Diablo!
The pace was pretty slow up front, so nobody was dropped on this first semi-ascent of Mount Diablo. The upper half, which can be partly seen from this point, looks much more scary, though - but for now it's downhill for the breakaway!
What also looks very scary is a descent on dirt roads under pouring rain! So far, everyone was able to stay on their bikes, fingers crossed that they can do the rest of the downhill without an accident - and without punctures - as well!
20 kilometers to go for the escapees!
The pack tackles the descent 6'47" later, led by Barta. Clearly, the stage win is gone - the distance is too short and the climb too easy to make up that much ground. Unless they're cheating - at least they seem to be flying, not touching the ground here!
And we're already on the final climb! Mount Diablo could make or break the entire race for a rider - be it in terms of stage win or GC!
The riders already know the lower half of the ascent, but as mentioned before, the upper part is way more difficult! Well, not exactly half, it's just about 6.5km from the intersection where they started the descent before. But still, that's going to be a real test!
And they didn't waste a lot of time to launch the first attack! "They" refers to Lunke, Hoehn and Pedrero, while McKenna, Gillett, Eriksson and Perez are now trying to shut this move down!
The peloton is still 6'35" down as they tackle the Mount Diablo climb. They gained a couple of seconds, but really just a couple.
Velasco and Aniolkowski are leading the pack on the initial meters - most GC riders are well positioned already, maybe expecting some early moves?
10km to go for the leaders, as McKenna has almost closed the gap to the three attackers! All riders are still there, so the speed probably still isn't too high - and we're still on the easier section of the climb as well.
But as soon as they really feel McKenna breathing down their necks, Lunke, Hoehn and Pedrero go again! 9km left.
Today is the final chance to directly attack Bennett with the help of a strong team, and Kraftwerk and Philips indeed seem to be setting up a move!
The peloton is down to 100 riders, but no riders relevant for the GC have been dropped yet.
7km left, so they'll soon reach the second half of the climb! The three attackers hold onto their 25" advantage, which Eriksson is now trying to reduce.
10km to go for the pack, where the same two teams still are trying to isolate Bennett! And it seems to work, as the race leader has no helper left protecting him! Is this the chance to break him?
Dirt roads on the descent, tarmac roads on the upper half of the climb - and we're back to square one, as Gillett reels in the three attackers again! Just 6km to go now!
But Lunke doesn't relent and kicks again - this time, only Pedrero can hold his wheel! Hoelgaard is taking over chasing duties - and the pace is now too high for Perez.
The peloton can be seen quite a lot further down on the climb - with just 5km to go for the leaders, the stage win really is out of reach for the pack.
The peloton reaches the intersection more than 5 minutes later - clearly, the pace hasn't been horrendous here, either. We still have 75 riders in the pack, and all who are well placed in the GC are still here.
4km left for Lunke and Pedrero, who haven't been able to open a sizeable gap yet! Hoelgaard is going really strong - much stronger than you'd expect him to on a long climb!
The designated KoM leader is getting some help from Henao, who finally closes the gap just 500m later! Except for Perez, all breakaway riders still could get the stage win - which makes it 15 candidates for one win!
And we do have our first notable victim of the day! Liphongyu, 15th in the GC is dropped! But as long as Campero stays safe, Sauber probably won't care that much.
Eislers and Coutinho are in the same group, by the way...
Kraftwerk have mostly pulled out from the chase, and so it's just Philips left to set the pace! Champoussin, Barta, Xandri and Eenkhoorn are up front, with Koch occasionally taking a turn as well.
5km to go for the pack as well - and if anyone wants to gap Bennett, they'd better launch some moves soon!
Moving is a good keyword, as that's what Henao, Moreno Hernandez and Bouchard are doing! The Eddie Stobart rider already has a stage win to his name, while Bouchard has a 2nd place. Let's see if that attack sticks, or if it eventually gets shut down like all the previous ones!
3km to go, by the way!
It's not entirely shut down - but it breaks up the group! Hoelgaard, Bayly and Dunne join the three attackers, while the other 9 are left behind! Or we'll rather say 8, as Alexander is even dropped from the chase group!
Out of the four Philips riders, only Eenkhoorn remains at the front of the pack, ahead of Koch. In 3rd position, we already have Zimmermann, while Hamilton is attentive as well. Ranaweera, Kritskiy, Vasyliv and Roman are next, with Choi, Bennett and Faglum Karlsson slightly further back.
And further down the road, we spot a group including Hibatullah that has just been dropped - the Indonesian is 4th in the U25 standings.
2km to go for the breakaway, and now it's Bouchard who makes his move! Hoelgaard stays in his saddle for now, does he have another acceleration left? He's already riding beyond his usual climbing skills anyway (as is Moreno Hernandez once again)!
At the same time, we also have an attack from the peloton! It's Ranaweera who tries to go for a GC podium now - and for now he's only followed by Vasyliv, Choi, Zimmermann and Hamilton! Pluchkin, Bennett and Faglum Karlsson can't respond right away due to subpar positioning - this move is a really, really dangerous one!
Things start looking rather good for Bouchard - he's already 29" ahead with 1,500m to go, and nobody seems to be able to counter this time!
Meanwhile, the chase is breaking further apart, with Hocevar and Eriksson now dropped.
Faglum Karlsson has finally reached the front of the pack and is now chasing, together with Bennett and Pluchkin. Meanwhile, Hamilton has been dropped by Ranaweera, Vasyliv, Zimmermann and Choi!
3.5km to go for the pack, and with those steep slopes we could still get some significant time gaps back here!
Bouchard is under the red kite and has extended his lead to a minute - and it looks like the others have resigned already!
Now it's race leader Bennett himself who takes the lead in the pack, trying to chase down the Choi group! They're already 35" ahead, though, and this could indeed be a game changer for the GC!
Perez is still slightly ahead of this group, while further ahead we see that Alexander has caught up with Hocevar and Eriksson. McKenna, Hoehn, Pedrero, Lunke, Costagli and Gillett are another couple of meters further up the road.
Uh-oh, that doesn't look good for Sauber at all! After having lost already their #2 very early on this climb, Bolivian champion Campero - 9th in the GC - has now been dropped as well!
Further ahead, we see Kuss towards the end of the group - it looks like yet another bad day for the U.S. rider!
And indeed, as Bennett closes the gap to the Choi group, Kuss isn't around anymore! Aru and Kritskiy are struggling as well, and even Carapaz isn't looking fresh anymore!
So who else is there? Of course, the four previous attackers Choi, Ranaweera, Zimmermann and Vasyliv, plus Bennett, Faglum Karlsson, Pluchkin and the three aforementioned riders who look to be in troubles.
It's no troubles at all for Bouchard, who only keeps extending his lead! Hoelgaard, Bayly, Moreno Hernandez, Henao and Dunne are 1'26" back, and only 300m are left in today's stage!
It's then Vasyliv who tries to ride away, but the only thing he achieves so far is definitely cracking Carapaz, Kritskiy and Aru! So this is actually an attack to become the best CT rider, and Zimmermann currently is the only one who can follow his compatriot's move!
Behind, we see a group containing not only Kuss, but also Senni and Hamilton - with the latter being at risk of losing his Top 10 spot, and the former two getting even further away from those positions!
But up front, it's a big, big win for Geoffrey Bouchard! The Cedevita rider already took a stage podium on day 3 - and now he doubles up with the stage win on the 3rd to last day! Congratulations!
And among those who will take the remaining podium spots, no-one seems to be able to attack! Hoelgaard has been leading ever since Bouchard rode away, but he doesn't look like he's got much left in the tank.
On the contrary, the group behind seems to be closing in, led by Costagli! And yes, they're indeed down to 5, as McKenna has just been dropped.
The GC favorites aren't that much further down anymore, either - and it's still Vasyliv who's pushing hard! And it also looks like Ranaweera and Faglum Karlsson have cracked, what a great day the German must be having! Choi and Zimmermann are following, while Pluchkin and Bennett seem to be struggling as well!
1,500m to go, including some very steep slopes!
Up front, the chasers are indeed getting dangerously close, as Pedrero and Lunke accelerate and have almost reached the front group already! Can they even steal a stage podium from those who looked strongest before?
Costagli and Hoehn don't seem to be able to react, while Gillett has now been dropped as well.
Vasyliv now catches Perez, and he even seems to have a small gap over Choi, Zimmermann and Bennett! The race leader is looking really strong now - unlike Pluchkin, who is a couple of meters back!
And Ranaweera and Faglum Karlsson have definitely lost touch!
Sure, who else but Daniel Hoelgaard could have had enough energy left to sprint to 2nd place? Cameron Bayly taking 3rd place is pretty symbolic, as Tryg now also take the KoM jersey ahead of Amaysim - and it could be definitive this time!
The fight for 4th is a really close call - and this on a mountain stage! Apparently, Salvador Moreno Hernandez was slightly ahead of Conor Dunne. Sebastian Henao is last of the front group, but still ahead of Sindre Skjostad Lunke and Antonio Pedrero, who settle for 7th and 8th.
Alex Hoehn and Teodoro Costagli round off today's Top 10. Gillett and McKenna should make it ahead of the GC riders as well, while the same isn't quite sure yet for Hocevar, Alexander and Eriksson in the background.
Wow, Vasyliv! The German indeed leaves the GC podium riders behind - but maybe Bennett just was playing mind games with them, as he now attacks as well and seems to easily close the gap!
Choi, Zimmermann and Pluchkin are now with Perez, but neither seems to be able to gap the others.
OK, that might have been speaking too early. Choi and Zimmermann indeed look spent, but Pluchkin now accelerates as well, trying to join Bennett and Vasyliv!
Ranaweera and Faglum Karlsson aren't that far behind, but still are at risk of losing some valuable seconds - and all chances of still getting a GC podium!
Hocevar, Alexander and Eriksson indeed make it to the finish line ahead of the GC riders. They take 13th through 15th - meaning no points are left for Bennett et al!
Yeah, sure... Bennett definitely stamps his authority on this race, riding away from everyone! Vasyliv is still doing a great job, while Pluchkin could gain some valuable seconds against Choi as well!
But... no. This time, Bennett got a bit too enthusiastic, and Vasyliv, who managed his energy slightly better, got the better of him in the end! He crosses the line 4'39" behind the stage winner.
On the other hand, Pluchkin also caught up with Bennett, which means that he gets the same time as the GC leader - + 4'46", or 7" behind Vasyliv. Which matters way less for them than the gap to those behind...
And that gap is significant! Choi and Zimmermann are clocked at + 5'23", which means 37 seconds behind Bennett and Pluchkin! Let's not get too much ahead of ourselves, but: this could definitely be decisive!
The last of the breakaway riders, Perez, finishes narrowly ahead of Ranaweera and Faglum Karlsson, who didn't have a good day - they're a full minute behind the yellow jersey! And that's probably all podium hopes done and dusted.
Kritskiy and Carapaz were even worse, another 24" further back.
Aru, who at one point tried to follow the former two, ended up being caught by this group around Kuss and Senni, who are 6'25" back - or 1'39" behind Bennett and Pluchkin. And 1'46" behind Vasyliv, let's not forget that!
Hamilton can also be seen in the background; the Australian loses another 35"!
The biggest loser of the day, however, is clearly Campero! The Bolivian started the day in 9th position, but after losing 8'42" to the winner - and almost 4 minutes to the yellow jersey group - the Top 10 are likely out of reach for him now.
By the way, his teammate Liphongyu is clocked at + 11'02", and drops from 15th to 25th! An absolute horror day for Sauber!
And last but not least, Taillefour tried to attack Orue's last place - but he came 5 minutes short. And given that the Frenchie is usually stronger in TTs, it's likely that the Paraguayan will defend the red lantern until the end.
It's no red lantern, but rather an orange party for Geoffrey Bouchard! The Frenchman only needed one attack, and he made it stick in an impressive way, leaving behind his breakaway companions by 1'39" on the final kilometers! Congratulations to Cedevita for their first stage win of the race!
A stage win is pretty much the only thing Daniel Hoelgaard misses out on, as he takes his 3rd podium spot of the race - and in all likelihood will be the KoM winner! A huge ride in the high mountains by the puncheur, hats off!
Cameron Bayly takes 3rd place, but misses out both on the stage win and on his task of limiting the Norwegian's success in terms of KoM hunting. Still, a stage podium on Mount Diablo surely must be a highlight for him!
Highlight? George Bennett already has plenty of those in this race - but today's stage result surely isn't a part of them. The outcome in terms of GC relevance however surely is, as he gains another 37" on Ki Ho Choi, who now trails by 2'13".
And therefore slips down one spot to 3rd, as Aleksandr Pluchkin now is the Kiwi's closest rival, being 1'59" behind! Is that a decisive advantage ahead of tomorrow's time trial? We'll find out, but things are definitely looking good now for Bennett! Let's take a look at who else had a good day:
GC Top 16 | After Stage 19
1.
George Bennett
69h12'48"
=
2.
Aleksandr Pluchkin
+ 1'59"
1
3.
Ki Ho Choi
+ 2'13"
1
4.
Marcus Faglum Karlsson
+ 3'06"
=
5.
Suranga Ranaweera
+ 4'15"
=
6.
Richard Antonio Carapaz
+ 4'51"
=
7.
Yuriy Vasyliv
+ 6'40"
3
8.
Fabio Aru
+ 7'49"
1
9.
Georg Zimmermann
+ 7'59"
2
10.
Lucas Hamilton
+ 8'52"
2
11.
Timofey Kritskiy
+ 9'06"
1
12.
Sepp Kuss
+ 9'22"
1
13.
Piter Campero
+ 10'39"
4
14.
Manuel Senni
+ 11'22"
=
15.
Alex Hoehn
+ 11'51"
5
16.
Geoffrey Bouchard
+ 11'51"
7
It looks like the most interesting fight should be the one for 2nd and 3rd, as it seems unlikely that Choi or Pluchkin would be able to attack Bennett - or be caught from behind.
Aru should be able to fend off Zimmermann despite the small gap, being a superior time triallist. However, Hamilton's Top 10 spot is at very high risk, given that Kritskiy is just 14" behind him. And Hoehn and Bouchard, both at the same time, should be fighting it out for the final Top 15 spot - with the local rider having a slight TT advantage.
Tom Van Asbroeck should be pretty happy that the breakaway took today's stage win, as Bennett didn't score at all and still trails by 13 points. He'd need another amazing TT to take green tomorrow, so it looks pretty likely that the Belgian will tackle the final stage in green.
However, Ingus Eislers - having the same amount of points - and Lionel Coutinho, who trails by just 8 points, will try everything to take that jersey away from our long-term leader on the very last day!
Daniel Hoelgaard may not have won the stage - but he definitely achieved his most important goal of the day: getting back the KoM lead! And his advantage of 17 points means that Lucas Hamilton needs to score both today and on the closing stage to still get the jersey - I'd say it's way more likely that the Norwegian will seal the deal tomorrow already!
Hermann Pernsteiner is definitely out of it, but still sits in 3rd place - and should stay there unless Bennett finishes 1st or 2nd tomorrow.
Georg Zimmermann makes this an even more amazing race for Tryg, as there's not much doubt that he'll take home the white jersey - and likely a Top 10 GC result on top of that!
Alex Hoehn has moved up to 2nd with his breakaway efforts, but he still trails by 3'51". Pascal Eenkhoorn had a solid stage, but is now 7'02" behind and will finish 3rd barring major disaster.
Former 3rd placed Sauber drop to 10th in what might be one of the most woeful days in their team history; instead, Kraftwerk Man Machine move up to 3rd, 16'17" back! Only Philips should have some realistic chances to steal that podium spot from the Germans, trailing by 44".
And that's it. All mountain stages of the 2022 Tour of America are in the books. What is left are two stages in and around San Francisco, with tomorrow's ITT being the final chance to make some changes to the GC! Will you join us again for the penultimate stage? I hope so - see you!
Tour of America 
