[VIDEO] 2015 Tour de France highlights: Stage 19 live race updates, blog

Stage Results:

Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) has bounced back from a horror 2015 Tour de France so far to take Stage 19 on top of La Toussuire.

However, the stage was far from a walk in the park for Nibali, featuring four big climbs over a distance of 138km, the attacks were flying from the gun in a very fast start that saw a majority of the peloton get left behind on the first ascent of the day.

Race leader Chirs Froome (Sky) was under pressure from the gun, his team finally looking vulnerable on the hardest day of the Tour so far.

The first attack of the day was launched after just 400 metres of racing, with things already going uphill. Brice Feillu (Bretagne) was the man to try and make the move, but he was almost instantly shut down before a three riders move went away at the 2km mark that featured Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Jean Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) and Kudus Gherbremedhin (MTN).

As it started to rain on the first climb of the day a breakaway of 26 riders formed at the head of the peloton. They included Michele Scarponi and Lieuwe Westra (Astana), JC Péraud (AG2R-La Mondiale), Alexandre Geniez (FDJ), Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo), José Herrada and Adriano Malori (Movistar), Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal), Joaquim Rodriguez, Damiano Caruso and Alberto Losada (Katusha), Pierre Rolland, Cyril Gautier and Romain Sicard (Europcar), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida), Andrew Talansky, Dan Martin and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Garmin), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling), Emmanuel Buchmann and Bartosz Huzarski (Bora-Argon 18) and Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka).

However not long after the formation of this group, and with about a 30 second lead, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff – Saxo) decided he was going for a long range attack and put Sky and everyone else under pressure. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Richie Porte (Sky) among other tried to bridge the gap before Geraint Thomas brought it all back together again.

With the breakaway still up the road, Vincenzo Nibali decided it was his time to fly. As they got to the top of the climb, Froome was almost completley isolated without team mates. Eventually though Nibali was caught and the peloton reformed as they rode downhill, some unsuccessful attempts at a breakaway going off the front.

Eventually with about 90km to go, a new 22 rider breakaway formed featuring Romain Bardet (Ag2r), Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM), Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff – Saxo), Tony Gallopin (Lotto – Soudal), Tanel Kangert (Astana), Steven Kruisjwijk (Lotto Jumbo), Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), Michael Rogers (Tinkoff – Saxo), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Rigoberto Uran (Etixx – Quickstep), Romain Sicard (Europcar), Ruben Plaza (Lampre), Alberto Losada (Katusha), Stef Clement (IAM), Jose Herrada (Movistar), Stephen Cummings (MTN), Adriano Malori (Movistar), Tim Wellens (Lotto – Soudal), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale – Garmin), Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN).

As that group built a lead of almost three minutes, Lotto Jumbo were the ones who hit the front to try and control the gap for Robert Gesink before the riders hit the biggest climb of the day the Col de la Croix de Fer. Pierre Rolland attacked aead of the breakaway on the climb and tried to go solo, which he succeeded in for a long period of time.

Again Sky were losing numbers before Froome had a minor mechanical problem with his chain dropping and Vincenzo Nibali attacked.

It would prove to be the winning attack as he over the next 30km, caught the breakaway and then Pierre Rolland. The pair worked hard to the bottom of the final climb, a very small peloton giving chase often lead by Movistar, or Wout Poels (Sky) who was the only one able to stay with Froome during the stage and would have gotten man of the match if it was football.

With 16km to go, and onto the final climb, Vincenzo Nibali again attacked leaving Pierre Rolland for dead. Rolland couldn’t keep up or catch Nibali and with 2:30 on the peloton it would prove to be enough for Nibali to go on and win the stage.

As the peloton worked their way uphill, Poels was doing a majority of the work before with around 6km to go he finally ran out of gas and dropped out of the peloton.

At this point Nairo Quintana (Movistar) decided to attack and no one could follow his wheel. Despite Alberto Contador (Tinkoff – Saxo) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) being able to follow Froome’s chase for a while they were eventually dropped as Froome powered on.

At the end of the day, Quinatana would gain half a minute on Froome setting up an incredible day tomorrow whilst Nibali moves within a minute of the podium.

Stage Preview:

The final weekend of the 2015 Tour de France gets underway and with mountain after mountain and a pair of summit finishes it promises to be special. Join The Roar for live race updates and coverage from 9:15pm (AEST).

On Stage 19, the riders take the 138km ride from Saint – Jean – de – Maurienne to La Toussuire – Les Sybelles.

Chris Froome (Sky) goes into the final weekend of the Tour de France holding the yellow jersey and an advantage of 3:10 over Nairo Quintana (Movistar). It should be enough to win the race, but you just never know.

In Stage 19, the peloton will encounter a shorter stage, all be it still longer than tomorrow. They will go over the highest point of the Tour in the Col de la Croix de Fer (also climbed on Stage 18) whilst the other climbs are category one and two.

The category one climb of the Col de Chaussy is first up. It is summited after 15.5km, and the climb is 15.4km in length at an average gradient of 6.3%, so basically it goes uphill after 100 metres. The day’s breakaway should be formed here, and will be full of climbers.

From there, a 15km descent follows before almost 30km of flat, which will include the day’s intermediate sprint stationed in Epierre and coming after 42km of racing. With the green jersey seemingly wrapped up to Peter Sagan (Saxo) it shouldn’t be contested with any great venom.

However, once the riders start the Hors Category, Col de la Croix de Fer there is barely a metre of flat terrain left in the race. Going over the top of the climb after 83km of racing, the climb is 22.4km in length at an average gradient of 6.9%.

Reaching the top of the climb with around 53km to go, the riders will then descend for a short period of time to the base of the Col du Mollard. It goes uphill for 5.7km at an average gradient of 6.8% and there could be a lot of attacking at this point.

It will then be a 16km descent to the foot of the final climb of the day, La Toussuire. The category one climb goes uphill for exactly 18km at 6.1%. There is a small flat section roughly half way up the climb and the early stages of the climb are much harder than the final. In fact during the final 3km the gradient barely goes above 5%, however the toughness of the climb will wipe out plenty of riders.

The likes of Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Alberto Contador (Tinkoff – Saxo) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) will all aim to try and make life difficult for Chris Froome and take time, with the ultimate goal particularly for Contador and Nibali who appear to have very little hope of winning the race overall being a stage win.

The climbers from Cannondale–Garmin have also been very active and I expect them to feature in the breakaway whilst Thibault Pinot (FDJ) has also been very active. Thomas Voeckler and Pierre Rolland made yesterday’s breakaway and it wouldn’t surprise me if had a crack at it again.

Other riders to look out for include Bauke Mollema (Trek), Robert Gesink (Lotto NL-Jumbo),Mathias Frank (IAM), Serge Pauwels (MTN) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r) who has been very active in recent times.

Warren Barguil (Giant) will also be keen to work his way back into the top 10.

Prediction: Due to the relatively unsuccessful tours of Nibali and Contador to date I don’t expect a breakaway to hold on. Movistar will go with the 1–2 attack strategy and will take some valuable time out of Froome whilst it could be Ryder Hesejdal’s day to shine in the Alps.

Join The Roar for live coverage of Stage 19 from 9:15pm (AEST) and don’t forget to leave a comment if you’re following along!