Stage 19 | Albertville to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc | Tour de France 2016

The rain which fell towards the end of stage 19 of the Tour de France in the Alps contributed towards some incredible drama and a significant shake-up in the overall positions behind race leader Chris Froome.

And, with just two days of the Tour to go, France was finally able to celebrate a stage win as Romain Bardet of AG2R attacked to win at Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc, and climb to second place overall.

In this episode of The Telegraph Cycling Podcast, Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie are joined by French journalist François Thomazeau and the voice of Radio Tour, Seb Piquet, to discuss the day’s events.

Incredibly, despite a crash on the final descent which meant he had to ride the last 12 kilometres on his team-mate Geraint Thomas’s bike, Froome ended the day having extended his overall advantage.

Bauke Mollema, the Dutchman who has ridden so strongly in this Tour, was another crash victim but he was less fortunate and fell from second to tenth overall. Adam Yates also faltered for the first time, slipping from third to fourth as Bardet and Nairo Quintana moved up into the podium positions.

We hear from Trek-Segafredo’s Peter Stetina about the chaos in the final hour of racing, and the misfortune that struck Mollema, who had looked set to finish on the podium in Paris.

And, on a day when Froome had to swap bikes, we ask Caley Fretz of VeloNews about the oval-shaped chainrings he choose to use and whether they actually give him any advantage. Of course, Froome had to ride the final part of the stage with ‘normal’ chainrings and we ask if that will have any effect.

With rain forecast for Saturday’s penultimate stage, there could yet be more twists and turns to come in a Tour that looked like a procession 24 hours ago but has now been thrust towards uncertainty.

The Telegraph Cycling Podcast is supported by Rapha and Eurosport.