Stage 19 of Tour de France 2022 takes place on Friday 22nd July and it’s flat profile which will suit the fast men
STAGE 18 RECAP
Stage 18 was raced at a ferocious pace and after withstanding everything Pogacar could throw at him, it was Vingegaard who took advantage of his powerful team (in particular Green Jersey, Wout van Aert), to draw clear and win comfortably and in so doing pretty much sew up the Yellow Jersey. Pogacar came in 2nd and Wout van Aert’s performance, the likes of which I don’t think I have seen before (he drove the early break on numerous occasions, still worked for his team leader) completed the podium. Geraint Thomas once again lost time on those above him but he did get time on all of his chasing rivals when he finished 4th and there were gutsy efforts by Gaudu, Lutsenko, Vlasov and Meintjes.
JERSEY UPDATE
Vingegaard has now pulled 3 minutes 26 seconds ahead of Pogacar and barring an absolute disaster will wear the Yellow Jersey into Paris. Geraint Thomas is a full 8 minutes back in 3rd place.
South Africans should be super proud of Louis Meintjes who moved up to 6th spot, 13 minutes and 43 seconds back. My heart broke for Simon Geschke who was holding the Polka Dot Jersey heading in to the stage, however the stage was just too hard ridden early and he couldn’t get to the top of the first climb and had to hope that Vingegaard didn’t win the stage. Unfortunately for him that is exactly what happened and Vingegaard will wear the Polka Dot Jersey down the Champs-Élysées.
With all the classifications now basically wrapped up the only options left for cycling punters are to get involved in the 3 remaining stages.
STAGE 19 BETTING – Click here to bet
Jasper Philipsen 5/2
Wout van Aert 9/2
Fabio Jakobsen 9/2
Caleb Ewan 7/1
Dylan Groenewegen 8/1
Mads Pedersen 8/1
STAGE 19 ROUTE AND PREDICTIONS
The stage is 183.3 kilometres and on the face of it, it is very flat and one for the sprinters. The problem is we are into the 3rd week of a Grand Tour and there are some very tired legs out there and by the same token the fresher riders will fancy their chances of getting in the break.
The sprinters teams will try and get a weakish break and go clear and keep it on a leash, but that may be easier said than done and if a strong break goes clear even the combined efforts of the sprinter teams may not be enough to bring it back.
There are a couple of Cat 4 climbs which are short in nature starting with 50 kilometres to go. Some stronger sprinter teams, like Trek, may well try and put the pressure on the likes of Groenewegen and Jakobsen who we know is struggling .
SELECTION: Wout van Aert at 9/2
Van Aert has amazing powers of recovery and he could certainly be forgiven for taking the day off after how hard he worked on Stage 18 and also the fact that he has the time trial on Saturday. The man appears to love being in the thick of things though and if this does come back for a sprint finish he is going to be hard to beat especially if the finish rises slightly.
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
