Dan Martin has improved his general classification position at the Tour de France. But there was no doubting the man of the day; stage winner and now 3rd in the general standings Primoz Roglic.
Dan Martin now higher overall at Tour de France
With just two stages remaining Dan Martin has moved up to 8th in the general standings at the Tour de France after an exceptional stage 19.
Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) was the man of the hour; lighting up the Col d’Aubisque on the way up and on the way down.
Dan Martin also attacked on the Col d’Aubisque and pulled clear. But Roglic pulled the trigger behind and only the strongest could follow.
They quickly caught and then dropped Martin, who fought all the way to get back on terms.
Along with Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), Roglic really took the fight to Team Sky on the final mountain.
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And while he jettisoned Chris Froome and Egan Bernal of Team Sky, as well as UAE Team Emirates rider Martin, the favourites group came back together going down the climb.
But Roglic was relentless and his superior descending on the 20km downhill into the finish in Laruns won him the stage.
Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) was the last man standing from the earlier breakaways. But such was the battle in the general classification group that they were all eventually caught.
Majka got to the top of the final climb just seconds ahead. But once Roglic hit the front the former ski jumper was brilliant.
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In the end he pulled out a gap of 19 seconds on the select group; Geraint Thomas bringing them in for 2nd place.
Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) was 3rd and then Dan Martin. There were seven men in the group led in by the yellow jersey.
However, while Froome was one of them Roglic still gained enough time to jump into 3rd overall at the reigning champion’s expense.
One man missing from the select chasing group was Nairo Quintana. The Movistar man crashed yesterday and he struggled because of that today.
He lost minutes and that has cost him his place in the top 10. It also means Martin nudges one place higher, to 8th on the stage.
Thomas now leads by 2:05 from Dumoulin. Then comes the very impressive Roglic; filling the last spot on the podium 2:24 down on the leader and just 19 seconds off Dumoulin.
Froome has slipped to 4th overall, some 2:37 down on Thomas and giving away just 13 seconds to Roglic.
There is then a gap of exactly two minutes to 5th; Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) filling that spot.
It means tomorrow’s lumpy 31km TT will settle the general classification spots just behind leader Thomas.
But barring a physical meltdown or a crash, he looks to have the 2018 wrapped up.
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