Arensman solos to La Plagne win, Pogacar's fourth Tour de France in sight

Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) claimed his second win of the 2025 Tour de France on stage 19 after attacking on the slopes of a rain-soaked La Plagne. Arensman narrowly held off Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in second and third, who came close to catching him in the final few hundred metres and finished two seconds behind the Dutchman. 

Pogačar all but sealed his fourth Tour de France victory, but he didn't score his fifth stage win of this year's edition. He accelerated fiercely with 13km to go, but Vingegaard responded and the Slovenian opted to control from the front of the chasing group when Arensman attacked soon afterwards.

The fight for the third and final step on the podium was a hotly contested battle between Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), but it was Lipowitz who came out on top as Onley was distanced from the provisional podium two kilometres from the finish line. 

Pogačar’s lead in the general classification now sits at 4:24 over Vingegaard in second, and 11:09 over Lipowitz in third.

The reduced stage began with Lidl-Trek, particularly Quinn Simmons, controlling the peloton to ensure Jonathan Milan maximized points at the intermediate sprint, increasing his lead over Tadej Pogačar in the standings. Milan claimed 20 points, with Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) also contesting, as all were in the top seven at the stage’s start, sparking the breakaway battle.

Abrahamsen continued his effort onto the Col du Pré but was quickly reeled in as riders, including Primož Roglič, attacked off the front. Midway up the climb, a select group broke away, but Roglič and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) pulled clear. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) chased solo, followed by Victor Campenaerts (Visma | Lease a Bike), Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers), Einer Rubio (Movistar), and Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) as the third group on the road.

Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) set the pace for a reduced yellow jersey group, keeping the gap to the front duo under a minute, signalling Pogačar’s intent to chase the stage win. Paret-Peintre joined Roglič and Martinez just before the summit, while the Foss group was caught by the peloton. Martinez took 20 points at the summit, bringing his mountains classification tally to 92, still trailing Pogačar’s 105.

With 60km left, Kevin Vauquelin was distanced from the yellow jersey group on the Cormet de Roseland, where the gap hovered around 30 seconds. Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) joined Wellens in pacing, as his GC leader Tobias Halland Johannessen, one place behind Vauquelin, stood to gain. The gap grew beyond a minute.

Martinez was briefly dropped near the top of the Cormet de Roseland after Paret-Peintre accelerated, with only Roglič following, but Martinez rejoined and claimed five points at the summit. Rain appeared as riders descended toward La Plagne. Roglič distanced his breakaway companions on the descent, holding a 50-second lead over the yellow jersey group, which absorbed Martinez and Paret-Peintre.

On the wet valley roads, Wellens’ relentless pace for the yellow jersey group caught Roglič before the final climb to La Plagne. Wellens continued pacing on the lower slopes as Roglič fell back. Jhonatan Narváez (UAE) took over when Wellens and Adam Yates finished their efforts. Callum Scotson and Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) then drove the pace to support Felix Gall, who benefited from Roglič’s struggles.

With 14.5km to go, Gall upped the tempo, shrinking the front group. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) attacked shortly after, followed by Pogačar’s stinging move at 14.1km to go, which only Jonas Vingegaard could match.

Arensman rejoined the duo and tried multiple breakaways, but Pogačar closed each gap effortlessly. Eventually, Pogačar and Vingegaard let Arensman go, as Florian Lipowitz, Oscar Onley, Gall, Johannessen, and Ben Healy rejoined, aided by Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL).

Pogačar controlled the pace among the GC contenders, monitoring Arensman’s gap. At 6.9km to go, he attacked again, with Vingegaard, Onley, and Lipowitz following, though Lipowitz briefly struggled to close the gap. Pogačar continued setting the pace, keeping Arensman in check.

At 2.2km to go, Onley began to crack, losing contact with Lipowitz, who then injected pace into the group. Pogačar delayed catching Arensman, and Vingegaard launched a final sprint in the last few hundred meters to close the gap, but it was too late.

Arensman claimed the stage win, whilst for the first time on a mountain stage in this edition, Vingegaard finished ahead of Pogačar, albeit on the same time, and the Slovenian moves one major step closer to Paris. Lipowitz took 41 seconds on Onley and now has a margin of 1:03 over the British rider in the battle for the third step on the podium.