The Tour de France is a famous cycling event. It occurs annually and usually there's nothing too serious that happens external to their control. However, this year is different. As a result of a hazard, a new route had to be created.
The 19th stage of the Tour de France has been shortened due to the discovery of a contagious disease in a herd of cattle located along the original route between Albertville and La Plagne, race organisers said on Thursday. "The discovery of an outbreak of contagious nodular dermatitis affecting cattle in a herd located specifically in the Col des Saisies has necessitated the culling of the animals," said organisers in a statement about Friday's stage.
"In light of the distress experienced by the affected farmers and in order to preserve the smooth running of the race, it has been decided, in agreement with the relevant authorities, to modify the route of Stage 19 (Albertville-La Plagne) and to avoid the ascent to the col des Saisies."
The viral skin disease was discovered in a herd near the Col des Saisies, prompting authorities to cull the animals and close off the area. In coordination with local officials, Tour organisers announced on Thursday that the affected climb would be removed from the course, "in light of the distress experienced by the farmers and in order to preserve the smooth running of the race."
This change marks the shortest non-time-trial road stage in the Tour in 54 years. Before this year, the shortest stage was a 19.6 km (12 miles) route from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Superbagnères in 1971.
The stage started one hour later than planned at 14:30 local time and bypassed climbs in Cote d'Hery-sur-Ugine and Col des Saises and rejoining the original route near Beaufort. The top riders finished in under three hours, practically unheard of for a non-time trial stage in the Tour.
The shortened stage and removed climbs came at a critical point in the race. Friday was the final mountain stage of the Tour and Jonas Vingegaard’s final chance to make up time against his archrival, defending champion, Tadej Pogačar. Vingegaard and Pogačar led a group that broke away on La Plagne but Dutch cyclist, Thymen Arensman won the stage and Pogačar and Vingegaard crossed the line behind him just seconds apart.
Pogačar now has a four minute and 24 second lead over the Dane with only two flat stages remaining. The pair have finished first or second at the last five editions of the Tour de France and are set to do so again this year.
Although race leader Tadej Pogačar took a step closer to a fourth Tour title, the Slovenian star could not catch Arensman. He finished the stage in third place behind Dane Jonas Vingegaard, who just beat Pogačar to the line.
It was a rare success for the two-time Tour winner Vingegaard over Pogačar in this year’s race but ultimately made little difference, since Pogačar is 4 minutes, 24 seconds ahead of Vingegaard with two stages left. Vingegaard couldn't drop Pogačar on Friday’s shortened stage, which featured a 19.1-km (11.8-mile) finish up to the ski resort of La Plagne.
Arensman had shown his climbing ability with a stunning solo effort last Saturday to win a mammoth mountain stage. He made his move this time with 13 kilometers left. Pogačar and Vingegaard marked each other at first and chose not to follow.
By the time they did, it was too late and Arensman won the stage by 2 seconds. "Tadej and Jonas are the strongest in the world, almost aliens, and I’m human," the 25-year-old Arensman said. "I can’t believe I beat them today. I tried to not look behind."
Moments after crossing the line, Arensman put his hands on his face and wept as he sat on the ground against a crash barrier, panting heavily with exhaustion. “I’m absolutely destroyed, I can’t believe it. To win one stage from the breakaway was already unbelievable,” he said. “But now to do it against the strongest riders in the world, it feels like I’m dreaming.”
Pogacar vanquished all of them en route to becoming the sixth — and youngest — man to win cycling’s holy grail for a fourth time. He crossed the Champs-Elysees finish line on Sunday, cementing a result of little doubt since he first took the yellow jersey after the fifth of 21 stages.
The margin of victory: 4 minutes, 24 seconds over Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, a two-time Tour winner who has finished runner-up in Pogacar’s last three wins (2021, 2024 and 2025). "It’s the peak of my career," Pogacar said earlier in the Tour. "The last two, three years is where I try to hold it, as long as I enjoy it."
I have no interest in cycling. I don't understand how it works. All the terminology described above are all foreign to me. What attracted me to this was the story. As far as I can recall, this is the first time I've seen/heard that a sport's game/event being altered because of a health scare. I don't include Covid because the various sports were still being played under normal conditions.