You might think the racers in the Tour de France would take stage 19 a little more relaxed as they look towards stage 20’s enormous Mont Ventoux climb. The riders also just completed several  stages in the Alpes, and a tough individual time trial in stage 18. However, taking it easy is not what happened on this transitionary stage.

The men of the Tour battled each and every inch of stage 19’s 178kms between Bourgoin-Jallieu and Aubenas.  Chris Anker Sorensen didn’t have an easy day but he successfully helped his team leaders, Frank and Andy Schleck, stay safe within the group.

The stage started out with a large breakaway group which was represented by 14 of the 20 teams in the race. Normally such a move with so many teams represented should stay away and go all the way to the finish line. Today however was different as team Rabobank chased the break down in an effort to give their sprinter Oscar Friere a chance at the victory. Team Columbia then helped in the chase to aid their ace sprinter Mark Cavendish.

The organizers of the Tour decided to add a category 2 climb with 20 miles to go in the stage. The 8.5 mile Escrinet Pass should have spelled the end for the sprinters, but somehow all the best sprinters made it over the climb together, including Tyler Farrar, Thor Hushovd, Oscar Freire and eventual winner Mark Cavendish.

Chris Anker covered the Escrinet Pass in 25 minutes with an average watts of 355. It was also covered at a blistering speed of 20mph. Chris did a good job of keeping his cadence high at 100rpm for an average. The category 2 climb also recorded Chris’s highest 20-minute value on the stage at 363 normalized power**.  

Chris finished the stage 2-minutes behind the winner and took it easy in the final kilometers as he looks towards the demanding Mont Ventoux climb on stage 20.

Chris Anker's SRM summary for stage 19