For the second time this week, Rui Costa of Portugal has won a leg of the Tour de France, capturing Stage 19 on Friday for his third career stage win. Costa finished the mountainous 204.5 kilometer trek in 5:59:01, 48 seconds ahead of German Andreas Klöden.
Tour de France 2013 results, Stage 19: Rui Costa wins 2nd stage this week
The Portuguese cyclist lands another stage win, while Chris Froome keeps his large lead in the overall standings.
Doug Pensinger
On Tuesday, Costa grabbed his first stage win since 2011 when he broke away at the end of Stage 16 to give his team, Movistar, its first victory of the 2013 Tour.
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Steep inclines at the beginning of the stage were expected to produce breakaway opportunities for the race’s better climbers, and that’s exactly what happened as Costa built a lead down the stretch and never looked back.
Current yellow jersey-wearer Chris Froome finished 25th in the stage, nearly eight minutes behind Costa, but maintains his stranglehold on the overall lead. The Brit remains over five minutes ahead of second-placed Alberto Contador and, barring a meltdown on Saturday, looks to be a lock to take the Tour.
The top of the leaderboard as a whole remains unchanged after Friday, with no movement whatsoever in the top five. Nairo Quintana of Columbia remains in third behind Contador, and Roman Kreuziger and Joaquin Rodriguez remain locked in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Full results for this stage, the general classification and other jerseys can be found at the Tour’s official site.
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