Matej Mohorič of Slovenia won the Tour de France’s 19th stage, edging Dane Kasper Asgreen in a photo finish as a breakaway prevailed for a second consecutive day.
Mohorič, 28, earned his third career Tour stage win. He edged Asgreen, who won Thursday’s stage, by a fraction of a wheel after three and a half hours in the saddle.
“It means a lot because it’s just hard and cruel to be a professional cyclist,” Mohorič said. “You suffer a lot in preparations. You sacrifice your life, your family.
“I don’t want to have any regrets when I come to the team bus, always, no? I don’t often win because I’m not as strong as the others, but I can keep the cool and the focus in the crucial moments.”
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Mohorič rides for Team Bahrain Victorious, which has three stage wins from three different cyclists at this Tour, one month after team member Gino Mäder of Switzerland died from injuries from a Tour de Suisse crash.
Australian Ben O’Connor, the third man in the breakaway, was four seconds behind in Friday’s stage.
Jasper Philipsen sprinted for fourth place, 39 seconds after Mohoric. The Belgian won four of the five sprint stages this year and will get one more chance in Sunday’s final stage in Paris.
The top five in the overall standings, led by defending Tour champ Jonas Vinegaard of Denmark, finished in the same time later on.
Vingegaard has a very comfortable lead of 7:35 going into Saturday’s penultimate stage, which is traditionally the last competitive stage for the overall podium in Paris.
Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia has a 3:10 lead over Brit Adam Yates for second place.
Third place could be in play Saturday, with six categorized climbs. Yates is up by 76 seconds on Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez.