TADEJ POGACAR put on yet another dominant display of climbing ability today as he won stage 19 of the Tour de France to stretch out his advantage in yellow and move closer to another slice of cycling history.

Pogacar attacked on the climb up to Isola 2000 to distance defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and break the heart of the Dane’s Visma-Lease A Bike team-mate Matteo Jorgenson, who was trying to win this brute of an Alpine stage out of the breakaway but saw a near three-minute advantage rapidly disappear.

Pogacar’s fourth stage win of this Tour saw his lead grow to five minutes and three seconds and it seems only some drastic misfortune over the final weekend can deny the 25-year-old a third Tour crown and stop him becoming the first man to complete the Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.