CAHORS (FRANCE) – Christophe Laporte sprung a surprise to win stage 19 as his Jumbo-Visma teammate Jonas Vingegaard retained his Tour de France lead ahead of Saturday’s deciding showdown in his intense struggle for the title with Tadej Pogacar.
The Dane has built a 3min 26sec overall lead over the defending champion ahead of the final true battle ground, a 41km individual time-trial Saturday.
A day after cracking in the Pyrenees, and losing over a minute, Pogacar, however, isn’t giving up entirely and continued a relentless attacking approach, clawing back a five bonus seconds by finishing fifth on Friday.
“The sprint was just for fun,” said Slovenian UAE rider…
