Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) collected his fourth stage win at this year's Tour de France from Embrun to Isola 2000 in the Alps to extend his overall lead ahead of Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) to 5:03 minutes.

Pogačar attacked 9.5 km to go to the finish line of stage 19 and spent most of the final climb to Isola 2000 (16.1 km/7.1%) chasing the breakaways. He caught the last one, American Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) less than two kilometres to go.

Having worn the yellow jersey for most of this year's Tour, Pogačar finished the latest stage 21 seconds ahead of Jorgenson and 40 seconds clear of Brit Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla).

Vingegaard and Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), who is third in the general classification, finished 1:42 minutes adrift.

Pogačar said this was one of the most difficult stages, if not the queen stage, but added that he and his team had trained there.

"I told the boys how we would ride, where I would attack and that is exactly what we did. I attacked exactly where I wanted. The win was just a plus," Pogačar told RTV Slovenija after the race.

In the general classification Pogačar has increased his lead ahead of Vingegaard to 5:03 minutes and to 7:01 ahead of Evenepoel.

This is his 15th Tour stage win overall and his tenth Grand Tour stage victory of the year, and he is well on track to win his third maillot jaune and a Grand Tour double on Sunday, having already won the Giro d'Italia earlier this year.

Tomorrow the cyclists will take on another challenging stage as they ride 132.8 km and cover 4,600 m of elevation from Nice to the top of the Coillole pass.

"I have gained a solid lead, so I can go into the next two days not completely relaxed but without pressure and that means a lot," Pogačar said.

"If it is hellishly hot tomorrow, a lot can happen... This is the prettiest Tour stage for me. I know every pothole," said Pogačar, who lives in Monaco, adding that he was looking forward to Saturday.