Rui Costa wins again in the Alps

On the hardest day on paper of this race the GC riders took a half day off allowing a massive break roll off on the first climb of the day, the HC Col de Glandon. Most aggressive in the break were Ryder Hesjedal and Pierre Rolland who spent the first half of the stage at the front of the race. Hesjedal tired early and lost contact while Rolland held on until the final climb of the day, the Col de la Croix Fry, where he succumbed to cramps and the aggressively chasing group behind.

Rui Costa of Movistar had used his teammates in the break to close the distance to the tiring Rolland and set in an attack on the Croix Fry that no one was able to match. Bakelants, Klöden, Navarro and De Clerq all tried and failed to keep up with the portuguese rider who was able to pass the col and ride relatively safely down the wet descent to clinch his second stagewin in this Tour de France.

Behind the breakaway the peloton showed itself to have few ambitions the day after the big Alpe d'Huez stage. Sky maintained a mediocre tempo that saw the breakaway gain enough time to make the battle for the stagewin slip out of range. Saxo-Tinkoff took over after the second HC climb of the day but they too did little to minimize the gap and the objective of their riding was unclear. A few minor jabs happened late on the final climb where Alejandro Valverde pressed on to squeeze himself into the top 10 and when Joaqium Rodriguez joined in some of the riders at the bottom of the top 10 struggled. Michael Rodgers and Laurens ten Dam both slipped out the backdoor.

Tomorrow sees the last chance to make changes to the top 10 behind Chris Froome who in all likelihood has the win sewn up and also the Climbers jersey may be hotly contested with 5 riders all within reasonable range to claim the jersey.

Top 10 Stage 19:

General Classification:

Points Competition:

Climbers Competition:

Young rider Competition: