Pogačar Shatters Pantani’s Record And Conquers Alpe d’Huez

Tadej Pogačar delivered one of the defining performances of the 2026 Tour de France on Alpe d’Huez. The yellow jersey attacked near the foot of the climb, erased a deficit of more than three minutes to the breakaway and won stage 19 after completing the ascent in a record time of 35 minutes and 27 seconds.

The short 127.9-kilometre stage from Gap produced an enormous 42-rider breakaway. Richard Carapaz, Lenny Martinez, Sepp Kuss and Adam Yates were among the most dangerous names, while Pablo Castrillo and Raúl García Pierna again represented Spanish cycling at the front of the race.

The escapees started the traditional 13.7-kilometre ascent with an advantage of approximately three and a half minutes. That margin soon began to disappear. Pogačar accelerated with just over 12 kilometres remaining, quickly left the other general classification contenders behind and briefly used Yates, who had been in the break, to maintain his pace.

Carapaz, Martinez and Kuss resisted at the front, but the yellow jersey passed one rider after another through the dense crowds. He caught Carapaz and Martinez with fewer than two kilometres remaining before launching his final acceleration inside the last kilometre.

Pogačar crossed the line in 3:17:57, six seconds ahead of Martinez and nine ahead of Carapaz. Kuss finished fourth at 1:14 and Tobias Halland Johannessen fifth at 2:07. It was Pogačar’s fifth stage victory of this Tour and his first triumph on the legendary Alpe d’Huez.

His 35:27 climbing time clearly surpassed Marco Pantani’s historic 1995 benchmark, normally listed between 36:40 and 36:50 depending on the exact timing points. Comparisons between different eras are never perfect, but the Slovenian lowered the most widely accepted reference by more than a minute.

Remco Evenepoel was the strongest of the remaining podium contenders, finishing sixth at 2:29. Isaac del Toro followed 12 seconds later and protected third place and the white jersey, extending his advantage over Paul Seixas from 20 to 24 seconds.

Juan Ayuso endured the hardest day among the main favourites. The Spaniard finished 17th, 6:26 behind the winner, and dropped from fifth to seventh overall. He is now 15:58 behind Pogačar and more than six minutes away from the podium, after being overtaken by Lenny Martinez and Lidl-Trek teammate Mattias Skjelmose.

Pogačar now leads Evenepoel by 7:11, Del Toro by 9:42 and Seixas by 10:06. The Tour returns to Alpe d’Huez on Saturday through a much harder high-mountain route, offering one final opportunity to change the general classification before Paris.