Dutchman Thymen Arensman wins Stage 19 of Tour de France
– Dutchman Thymen Arensman claimed his second victory in the 2025 Tour de France when he benefited from the top guns' waiting game to prevail in the 19th stage, the last mountain trek of the race on July 25.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider, whose team have been facing doping questions related to their glorious days as Team Sky, went solo in the final climb to La Plagne.
He then crossed the line two seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, who were second and third respectively.
An exhasted Arensman collapsed into the roadside barriers after crossing the finish line.
The 25-year-old, who had also won Stage 14, said: 'I'm absolutely destroyed. I can't believe it.
'Already to win one stage of the Tour is incredible from a break, but now from the GC (general classification) group and against some of the strongest riders in the world, it feels like I'm dreaming. I don't know what I just did.
'Everyone knows Tadej and Jonas are the strongest in the world, almost aliens… Then just as a human, I still want to try to beat them. I just can't believe I beat them today.
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'I tried to not look behind, just go as fast as I could and it was enough.'
Slovenian Pogacar retained the overall leader's yellow jersey and leads Vingegaard by 4min 24sec going into the final two stages. He is widely expected to win a fourth title if he avoids a major incident.
German Florian Lipowitz took fourth place on the shortened stage to cement his third place overall, stretching his advantage over fourth-placed Oscar Onley of Scotland by 41sec to 1:03.
It would have taken a colossal coup from Vingegaard to topple Pogacar on the final mountain test in the Alps, but the Visma-Lease a Bike rider tried only within the last 100 metres to take two seconds off the Slovenian's lead, with Pogacar emerging as the puppet master of the peloton.
A leading trio featuring France's Lenny Martinez and Valentin Paret-Peintre as well as former Tour runner-up Primoz Roglic, reached the Col du Pre with a small gap to a chasing group after a brutal 12.2km ascent at 7.7 per cent.
The peloton, controlled by Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates, trailed by less than a minute.
With two kilometres left in the climb up to the Cormet de Roselend (5.9km at 6.9 per cent), Paret-Peintre and Roglic shook off Martinez, but only briefly as the Bahrain Victorious rider clawed his way back.
Roglic went solo in the descent into Bourg-Saint-Maurice, dropping Martinez and Paret-Peintre, who were quickly caught by the bunch. Roglic was then swallowed two kilometres before the final climb and spat out immediately.
Austrian Felix Gall, gunning for a top-five finish in Paris, accelerated 14.5km from the line with Arensman, Pogacar and Vingegaard reacting.
Pogacar made his own move 14km from the top, with Vingegaard and Arensman the only riders able to get into his slipstream.
Pogacar eventually let Arensman go and seemed content with setting a decent tempo to keep the Dutchman within reach, but the Slovenian eventually did not make the effort to go for a fifth stage win of 2025. REUTERS, AFP
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