Sam Bennett yesterday extended his lead in the green jersey competition to 52 points over Peter Sagan, meaning the former three-time world champion faces a near impossible task to take the points classification from the Irishman.
Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) claimed the intermediate sprint on stage 18 yesterday and, as well as now enjoying a 52-point lead on Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) with three days to go, he also has a lead of 63 points over Matteo Trentin (CCC Team).
It means either Sagan or Trentin would need to win the stage today and also score in the intermediate sprint - and for Bennett to score no points - in order to take the green jersey from him.
While that is not impossible, it is very unlikely. However, given the profile of today's stage 19, both Trentin and Sagan were expected to take the fight to Sam Bennett one last time.
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The 166.5km stage 19 from Bourg-en-Bresse to Champagnole is the first stage after the Alps. While it is not hilly, it's also not pan flat; a stage where Trentin and Sagan will look to get in a breakaway to score points at the intermediate sprint and at the finish.
Interestingly, the intermediate sprint comes very late in the stage, at 117.5km, and it comes at the top of a small unclassified climb, meaning Bennett will need to be very vigilant if a breakaway is not already up the road.
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The final 20km of the stage is almost all downhill or flat, with a pan flat finish to the day. It is, of course, a stage that Sam Bennett could aim to win himself as there are no climbs on the route that should trouble him.
However, with a stage profile that literally invites Sagan and Trentin to put Bennett under pressure, the Irish rider needs to put in one last big push before taking his place in cycling history.
On tomorrow's penultimate stage the field faces a mountain TT, where none of the green jersey contenders will score points. After that, all that remains is the final stage into Paris, which Bennett could win and where he is almost certain to score more points than Trentin or Sagan.
Against that backdrop, today is realistically the last battle in the what has become a war for the green jersey, with Ireland's Sam Bennett very much in the driving seat and with one foot already on that Paris podium.
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