Tour de France 2025 Stage 19 recap - Thymen Arensman doubles up at La Plagne as Tadej Pogacar plays it safe to secure yellow

The human held out against the aliens – that was how Dutchman Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) described the finale of the sodden and shortened Stage 19 of the Tour de France as the plucky Arensman held on for a second mountaintop win of the race by just two seconds over his extraterrestrial pursuers.

With yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirtaes-XRG) and the polka dot jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) closing in after a series of attacks from the white jersey of Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), Arensman had just enough left in the tank to add an Alpine win at La Plagne to his Pyrenean success at Superbagneres last weekend.

For the first time in the 112th edition of the Tour, Denmark’s Vingegaard finally got the better of his big rival Pogacar as he crossed the line for second place with the Slovenian race leader on his back wheel. Bonus seconds sees the two-time champion cut his deficit to a still considerable 4:24 ahead of Saturday’s lumpy penultimate stage in the Jura hills.

"Everyone knows that Tadej and Jonas are the strongest in the world – they’re almost like aliens. And just as a human, I still want to try to beat them," an exhausted but content Arensman said after his victory. "I just can’t believe that I did beat them today. I tried to not look behind and go as fast as I could – and it was just enough. It’s crazy."

German youngster Lipowitz settled for fourth place but seemingly secured the white jersey and the final spot on the podium after his late accelerations saw the elastic snap for Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL). The young Scot crossed the line over 40 seconds back and is now unlikely to improve on his nevertheless impressive fourth place in the overall standings.

Austria’s Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), meanwhile, rose into the top five at the expense of Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) after the Slovenian gambled big with an early bid to strike out in pursuit of a win on a stage that was shortened from 130km to just 93km over fears of a contagious cattle disease outbreak on one of the mountain passes.

Roglic was the big loser of the day, dropping to eighth in the standings after crossing the line the best part of 13 minutes down.

A moody Tadej Pogacar seemed to have a pop at Felix Gall and Decathlon, as well as his big rival Jonas Vingegaard, in his post-race interview…

Primoz Roglic came in almost 13 minutes down after going for broke earlier in the stage, so he’s the big casualty in the top 10, dropping three places to eighth.

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +4:24
3. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +11:09
4. Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) +12:12
5. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +17:12
6. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +20:14
7. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +22:35
8. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +25:30
9. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +28:02
10. Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla) +34:34

"I’m absolutely destroyed. I can’t believe it. Already, to win one stage at the Tour from a break is unbelievable. But to win from the GC group – against the strongest riders in the world – it feels like I’m dreaming. I don’t know what I just did.

"After the descent, Tobias (Foss) was still with me. I told him to swing off and that tomorrow could be his day, and I’d see what I could do. I thought maybe they would look at each other and I would try it. I just don’t take no for an answer.

"Everyone knows that Tadej and Jonas are the strongest in the world – they’re almost like aliens. And just as a human, I still want to try to beat them. I just can’t believe I beat them today. I tried to not look behind and go as fast as I could – and it was just enough. It’s crazy."

1. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +02
3. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) "
4. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +06
5. Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) +47
6. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +1:34
7. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +1:41
8. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +2:19
9. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) +3:47
10. Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) +3:54

Kevin Vauquelin battled to 17th place at 6:18 but no sign of Primoz Roglic yet…

The German animated the final kilometre but was ridden off the wheel at the end. Still, he settles for fourth place – but some significant in-roads on Oscar Onley, who came home for fifth but around 20 seconds down.

A few days ago it was Jonas Vingegaard who was knocked off by a photographer – and this time it’s the yellow jersey who almost gets barged over by an over-zealous official trying to reach Arensman. Wholly unnecessary, and the Slovenian gives the man a long hard stare. He’s not happy.

The Dutchman can’t believe it – he raises his hands to his mouth in disbelief as he holds on to complete his mountains double. Victory for the Ineos Grenadier – with Jonas Vingegaard settling for second place ahead of Tadej Pogacar after their protracted stalemate.

Under the flamme rouge goes Arensman – and he won’t want to look over his shoulders because the three chasers are closing in. But until they make a move, the Dutchman holds all the aces. I think he’ll do it. The others are waving the white flag.

With Onley going backwards, the German takes it up. This is his bid to secure the white jersey and third spot on the podium – while perhaps pushing for a maiden stage win. The gap for Arensman comes down to 15 seconds.

Perhaps this is his protest to the claims that he’s made this Tour too boring with his dominance. Just when we crave his trademark swashbuckling moves, he denies us with this dull display of merely doing just enough. The gap is still 19 seconds as Onley starts to let the elastic snap…

Another kilometre ticks by as Arensman puts in one of his sustained unseated accelerations, his shoulders swaying side to side. His gap is 20 seconds, so it’s not coming down. But we haven’t seen any real attacks behind, either.

The Dutchman’s lead is down to 21 seconds. He has a great chance of winning. But it all depends on Pogacar and Vingegaard. And you doubt that either of them will settle for second place again. Twice this week, Pogacar has foregone a win, while Vingegaard is still yet to pick up a stage in this race.

The Top Four on GC ride 25 seconds behind Arensman, who is out of the saddle and dancing g his way under the 5km banner as he pushes for a second stage win. The Gall-Healy-Johannessen group is 52 seconds back, with Ireland’s Healy beginning to feel the pinch and let a gap open.

The lone leader is doing himself proud but it would take a minor miracle for him to add a win in the Alps to his Pyrenean success from last week. Once Pogacar attacks, the gap will tumble in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.

Here was Pogacar's initial attack earlier in the climb, just before Arensman countered:

Arensman looks to be in a world of pain on the front as he edges his way through a sea of spectators. Behind, the yellow jersey has a dig and takes Vingegaard and Onley with him. Lipowitz digs deep behind and manages to claw his way back – so we have the top four together in the chase group now. The cream coming to the top.

The world champion has come to the front of this seven-man chase group. He’s keeping a tempo to keep Arensman’s lead in check, but he’s not yet shredding the legs of his rivals. Just waiting for the right time. The gap is 33 seconds.

The Slovenian has been overtaken by Vauquelin and is dropping like a stone. He won’t drop out of the top 10 because the gaps are so huge, but he’ll lose his fifth place to Gall and could well be eighth this evening.

The Onley-Lipowitz-Johannessen-Healy group are just returning to Gall’s back wheel as the Austrian – in his distinctive bandy-legged style – closes in on Pogacar and Vingegaard. Van den Broeck slips back after his big pull for Onley. This reformed group trails Arensman, the lone leader, by 30 seconds.

The Scot hasn’t dropped Lipowitz but he has Picnic PostNL team-mate Frank ven den Broeck pacing him in the chase group – and that could be the difference. By contrast, Lipowitz’s Red Bull team-mate Roglic is well down after throwing everything but the kitchen sink at an early, foolhardy bid for glory.