Two days after being involved in a long range breakaway to Revel which netted him a frustrating second place on the stage, Team CSC's Kurt-Asle Arvesen made another attempt at a Tour stage win when he went clear as part of a medium-sized group in Stage 19. Arvesen and the other ten riders involved were trying to bridge across to four leaders: Giuseppe Guerini (T-Mobile), Sandy Casar (Francaise Des Jeux), Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas-Bianchi) and Oscar Pereiro (Phonak), but a lack of co-operation in the chase group meant that they never closed the gap.
"I felt good today and tried to go for the victory, but unfortunately the group I was in couldn't really agree on anything," said Arvesen, who ended up sixth. "It would've been great to be up front fighting for the stage win, but it wasn't possible."
