Stage 19

The road

At the start

Cobbles into Ávila

Fabio Aru attacked Tom Dumoulin again and again on the Quesera yesterday and took nothing out of him; the Dutchman still leads by three seconds, with Joaquim Rodríguez at 1:15. Maarten Tjallingii does not start. Today is a gentler 184 kilometres to Ávila, the Alto de la Paramera twenty from the line, and then a steep cobbled ramp up into the walled city.

How it was won

1. 127 km to go

   Fifty seconds at El Barraco

   Machado's early jump has been reinforced by Gougeard and Duque, and by the intermediate sprint the trio have crept out to fifty seconds — while a thoroughly disinterested peloton lets the gap balloon towards eighteen minutes.

2. 223 km to go

   Gougeard goes alone

   With 22.5 kilometres left the 21-year-old Frenchman drops Machado and rides off by himself towards Ávila.

3. 32 km to go

   The cobbles under the walls

   The medieval walls of Ávila come into view and the road turns to cobbles. Gougeard starts up them with the stage already won; back down the mountain, Dumoulin picks the same ramp to attack the favourites, dragging Dani Moreno with him.

4. 4At the line

   Three more seconds

   Gougeard cruises in for the biggest win of his young career, Oliveira 40 seconds back. Aru chases Dumoulin up the cobbles and cannot close: six seconds now separate them with two days left.

The result