Mont Blanc in the distance, the final destination for Stage 19.

Another mountain stage and another shift in the Point d’Appui standings. Anthony Delaplace, the Fortuneo-Vital Concept rider who was on the cusp of the fulcrum after Stage 11, now holds the general classification Point d’Appui at the end of Stage 19.

Anthony Delaplace

Tom Dumoulin of Team Giant-Alpecin and Daniel Navarro of Cofidis had to abandon the race due to crashes. Dumoulin had a touch of wheels when the peloton slowed down and bunched up. He broke his wrist. Navarro came down with two other riders in a hard downhill turn after the rain had slickened the route.

They weren’t the only riders to meet the pavé on Stage 19, but the only two who had to abandon mid-stream.

Romain Bardet of AG2R La Mondiale took a flier on the final climb, catching up with Rui Costa, who had been in the escape group and escaped them. Bardet, though, had enough gas in the tank to continue past Costa and win on Mont Blanc.

Chris Froome, despite a fall on the same rainy descent that caught other riders, was able to stay with the lead group after teammate Geraint Thomas handed off his bicycle to Froome. Bauke Mollema was not so lucky, falling twice and losing enough time to drop him from second place overall to tenth.

Sam Bennett remains the Lanterne Rouge.