“It’s really an emotional victory for me. The Slovenian Matej Mohoric (Bahrain) won the 19th stage of the Tour de France, just ahead of the Dane Kasper Asgreen at the photo-finish on Friday July 21 in Poligny. It was the third victory in the Grande Boucle for the Slovenian who won ahead of his two breakaway companions, Asgreen and the Australian Ben O’Connor, after a long final straight of 8 kilometers. He could not hide his emotion at the end of the race. “I sacrificed everything to get ready for this Tour, I knew I had the legs to win. »
A great downhill specialist, Mohoric, 28, threw his bike over the line to keep a few millimeters ahead of Asgreen, winner the day before in Bourg-en-Bresse. It was so tight that he had to wait a few minutes after the finish to be sure of his victory, before bursting into tears. Tadej Pogacar’s compatriot had already raised his arms twice on the Tour in 2021 and also has a Monument to his name with his victory at Milan-Sanremo in 2022.
It is also, after Pello Bilbao and Wout Poels, the third victory in this Tour de France for the Bahrain team, bereaved just two weeks before the start by the death of its Swiss rider Gino Mäder in a col descent at the Tour de Suisse.
Mohoric proved to be the toughest and smartest in a rather crazy stage, run like a classic, with a multitude of attacks, breakaway attempts and riders breaking up in several groups.
The peloton, with the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, arrived almost 14 minutes late, riding at a senator’s pace since no rider dangerous for the general classification had slipped into the breakaway
