July 19th.
The Tour de France, spanning over twenty days, was finally entering the three-part grand finale for the general classification contenders.
As the first of the three stages, Stage 19, the riders would journey from Embrun to Isola 2000.
The total distance was 144.6 km, with a staggering total elevation gain of 4,512 meters.
There was an intermediate sprint point located at the 21.5 km mark of the stage.
This was undoubtedly fantastic news for the flat-road sprinters.
They could break away early to grab sprint points before the difficult climbs began, which would significantly reduce the difficulty of their ride.
Otherwise, if the intermediate sprint was placed after an HC Level climb, it would have been a near-death experience for the sprinters.
After all, at this stage of the race, everyone's physical fatigue had basically reached its breaking point. Just finishing the remaining stages would require gritting their teeth and persevering.
