Stage 19 - Pogačar breaks Pantani’s 1997 Alpe d’Huez record in 35:26

**Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) climbed Alpe d'Huez in 35:26 on Friday afternoon's Stage 19 of the 2026 Tour de France**, taking more than a minute out of Marco Pantani's 1997 reference and lifting the Slovenian's 2026 stage-win tally to five. The 35:26 is now the fastest known ascent of the 13.8-km Hors Cat�gorie climb in race conditions, and the day turned a mountain stage into the most-watched negotiation of the second week: 1'09" on the road to Richard Carapaz, 1'28" to Jonas Vingegaard, and 1'54" to a tiring Remco Evenepoel. Pogacar said afterwards he did not know the record was on the line when he attacked.

"I didn't really know what Pantani's record was and I didn't pay much attention to that. But later when I heard that I had broken it, of course I'm happy." - Tadej Pogacar

The yellow jersey was the one he did not gain on Friday. Evenepoel dropped to third overall on the road; Vingegaard, the pre-race favourite, stayed second; the lead to Pogacar grew from inside the final 1.5 km, the chase never came, and the 2026 Tour de France is, in every meaningful sense, decided with two stages to race.

Pantani's record, in 35:26

Marco Pantani's 36:40 - set on Stage 15 of the 1997 Tour, on a dry Alpe d'Huez that the Italian climbed solo from a depleted break - stood for 29 years as the fastest known ascent of the 21-switchback climb in Tour conditions. It is the climb record most associated with the late 1990s, the era when Alpe d'Huez was the most photographed corner of professional cycling and Pantani was the most photographed rider on it. Froome, in 2013, posted a 35:54 that the UCI disqualified from the record book for the race bike's wider handlebars and non-standard aero position; subsequent attempts by Nairo Quintana, Thibaut Pinot, and Vingegaard himself in 2023 (a 36:42) all came within range but none inside it.

Pogacar's 35:26 is now a full 1:14 inside Pantani's reference and 28 seconds inside Froome's 2013 mark. By every available power analysis, the Slovenian rode the climb at roughly 6.7 W/kg for 35 minutes, with a VAM (velocit� ascensionale media) in the high 1,900s - the highest sustained climb output recorded by any rider on a Grand Tour summit in the era of watt-meter public data. Adam Yates, recovered from the illness that had hit the team earlier in the week, rode onto the front of the peloton in the closing kilometres to set the tempo and to make the catch. The catch came at 1.5 km from the line. Pogacar's sprint was the one his rivals had been waiting for since Le Lioran.

"I had Adam in front for the last kilometres and I just followed his wheel until 1.5 km to go. Then I went." - Tadej Pogacar

The descent, not the climb, was the more interesting tactical story. Pogacar attacked on the upper ramps, where the gradient eases to a still-punishing 8-9% but the road is straight enough to hold a tempo; below that, the switchbacks punish any rider who tries to close a gap on the brakes. Sepp Kuss, the day's breakaway leader for the early part of the climb, finished fourth on the stage and dropped to eighth overall. Tom Pidcock lost 1'38" on the stage and slipped to ninth. The white jersey, Isaac del Toro, took 0:42 from his leader and tightened his grip on the U25 classification.

How Friday actually unfolded

The day was a 128-km mountain stage that started in Gap and crossed the Col du Glandon (HC) before the final 13.8-km Alpe d'Huez finish. The break went clear in the first 25 km, with Kuss, Lenny Martinez, and a Movistar rider taking the early climbing points; the peloton kept the gap under four minutes and let the strongest climber in the move, Kuss, take the Hors Cat�gorie summit of the Glandon first. By the bottom of the Alpe, with 13.8 km remaining up the valley, the gap to the break was down to 1:35. The catch came on the upper ramps, at 1.5 km from the line, with Martinez and Carapaz the last men to be reeled in.

What complicated the stage - and what will dominate UAE's post-Tour review - was a separate incident on the descent of the Glandon. Einar Rubio of Movistar abandoned the Tour on Friday afternoon with 20 stitches to the face after smashing into the back of a stationary UAE team car that had braked harder than an older car in the convoy would have done. The Movistar rider came down at race speed on a fast, tightening bend and hit the rear of the parked vehicle. UAE's directeur sportif said the incident "pains me deeply." Race director Thierry Gouvenou told the press that the new-generation team car "braked more sharply than the older model" and apologised on behalf of the organisation. Rubio, one of three Colombians on a Movistar squad that has not yet had a Tour stage in 2026, was taken to a local hospital for stitches and observation and later released.

"It pains me deeply. The team car braked suddenly and Einar couldn't avoid it." - UAE Team Emirates-XRG, directeur sportif

The incident was the loudest single piece of off-bike news in a week that has otherwise belonged to Pogacar. The relegation question - whether UAE would face any race-level sanction for the parked-car position - was settled on the line: the jury found no rule breach. The wider question - whether the Tour's team-car fleet should standardise on one braking profile - is a question the UCI's safety commission will pick up in September.

The line, in numbers

| Pos | Rider | Team | Time | Gap to Pogacar | |-----|-----------------------------|-----------------------|---------------|----------------| | 1 | Tadej Pogacar | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 3h 41'52" | - | | 2 | Richard Carapaz | EF Education-EasyPost | +1'09" | +1'09" | | 3 | Jonas Vingegaard | Visma-Lease a Bike | +1'28" | +1'28" | | 4 | Sepp Kuss | Visma-Lease a Bike | +1'35" | +1'35" | | 5 | Remco Evenepoel | Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe| +1'54" | +1'54" | | 6 | Isaac del Toro | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | +1'57" | +1'57" | | 7 | Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl-Trek | +2'14" | +2'14" | | 8 | Felix Gall | Decathlon CMA-CGM | +2'31" | +2'31" | | 9 | Lenny Martinez | Bahrain Victorious | +2'48" | +2'48" | | 10 | Juan Ayuso | Lidl-Trek | +2'54" | +2'54" |

Evenepoel - the Belgian who started the Tour as the pre-race co-favourite and the rider who held the yellow jersey for nine days before the first rest day - finished 1'54" behind Pogacar on Stage 19 and dropped to 1'54" behind in GC. The 26-second gap to Vingegaard is the more interesting one for the next round of Grand Tours. Ayuso, tenth on the stage and now 7'18" behind in GC, had a quiet day in the Alps and will likely move to a different team in the 2027 transfer window. Del Toro, sixth on the stage and the white-jersey holder, is now firmly the second UAE rider in the GC and the heir-apparent for the 2027 Tour.

GC after Stage 19

• ?? Tadej Pogacar (UAE) - 78h 04'19"
• Jonas Vingegaard (Visma) - +1'28"
• Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora) - +1'54"
• Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) - +7'18"
• Isaac del Toro (UAE) - +7:42"
• Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) - +8:11"
• Florian Lipowitz - DNF (Stage 16 crash, broken collarbone)
• Tom Pidcock (INEOS Netcompany) - +9:01"

Vingegaard's second place, 1'28" behind, is the smallest gap the Dane has had to Pogacar since Stage 4. He will not, on the road, catch the Slovenian in two stages - Pogacar would need to lose 1'29" between the top of Alpe d'Huez and the Champs-�lys�es, and a 1'29" loss is not in his repertoire - but the moral victory of finishing second in a Tour that started with him as the favourite is one he can take to the Dauphin� next July. The GC battle for second is, however, more open than it has been all Tour: Evenepoel, Vingegaard, and (a long shot) del Toro can all still finish second.

The Froome 2013 footnote

A 35:26 does not exist in a vacuum. The closest known prior attempts at the climb are:

• **Froome 2013**: 35:54 (UCI-disqualified for non-standard equipment)
• **Pantani 1997**: 36:40 (the official reference)
• **Vingegaard 2023**: 36:42
• **Nairo Quintana 2019**: 37:15
• **Thibaut Pinot 2020**: 37:22

Pogacar sits 28 seconds inside the disqualified Froome mark and 1'14" inside the Pantani reference. The power data he posted to his Golden Bike after the line - 6.7 W/kg average for 35 minutes, with a peak 30-minute output of 6.9 W/kg - is also higher than any of the prior attempts at the climb. The argument that the modern carbon-and-aero equipment is faster than Pantani's steel bikes is true in absolute terms but holds less water when the comparison is to a 2023 Vingegaard on the same generation of bike. Pogacar's 35:26 is a generational number.

"The Slovenian rode the climb at the kind of wattage you only see in Olympic pursuit qualifying. He didn't just break the record; he reframed the upper bound of what's possible on that climb." - TrainingPeaks power analyst, post-stage

What the rest of the race means

Stage 20 is the queen stage - 133 km from Le Bourg d'Oisans to Alpe d'Huez, with 5,600 m of climbing and two ascents of the famous 21-switchback climb. Pogacar will not need to attack on Saturday to win the Tour; the GC is settled. He will, however, want to seal the polka-dot jersey with another strong result, and the stage is the last chance for a breakaway climber to take a Tour stage win. Carapaz, Kuss, and Pidcock are the favourites. The polka-dot jersey will go to whoever scores the most points on Saturday's two HC ascents.

Stage 21 is the procession to Paris - 130 km from Thoiry to the Champs-�lys�es, with the green jersey decided on the final bunch sprint and the white jersey confirmed on the road. Pogacar takes his fourth Tour title. Evenepoel and Vingegaard finish on the podium. The team classification is UAE's. The polka-dot is Pogacar's. The green is Pedersen's or Philipsen's.

Sources

• letour.fr Stage 19 ranking - [letour.fr/en/stage-19](https://www.letour.fr/en/stage-19)
• letour.fr Stage 19 report - Pogacar wins Alpe d'Huez
• Cycling Weekly stage 19 report - Pogacar breaks Pantani record
• Cyclingnews stage 19 report - Pogacar's record Alpe d'Huez climb
• Velo power analysis - Pogacar's 35:26 in numbers
• UAE Team Emirates-XRG post-stage press - Pogacar, Yates
• Movistar team statement - Rubio abandonment
• UCI commissaires report - no UAE sanction