Yury Trofimov made a brave move in an attempt to move up in the overall standings when he joined the early break in stage 19 of the Tour de France. In the end, he was brought back by Astana but he still managed to maintain 14th in the overall standings.

At 145,5 km, stage 18 began in Pau and traveled over the HC Col du Tourmalet before ending on the beyond category climb to Hautacam. An original break of 20 riders included Team Katusha’s Iurii Trofimov who worked well in the group and continues to look strong in this year’s race. When Sky’s Mikel Nieve and Blel Kadri went away on the Tourmalet, Trofimov was part of a 3-man group that mounted a chase over the top and down the descent.

At the beginning of the climb the group of the yellow jersey caught all riders from the early break including Iurii Trofimov and Mikel Nieve, who was the last rider in front on the final climb Hautacam. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) had his eyes on another stage win and when Chris Horner (Lampre) went at 10 km to go, Nibali followed and soon dispatched the American rider, quickly picking up Nieve as well.

"Today was a good opportunity for the break, so I decided to try myself in this stage. I felt good both on the Tourmalet and in the descent. But Astana worked hard for Nibali and did not give any chances to a breakaway group. When they passed me I kept my own pace to try to finish as high as possible. We still have one decisive stage on Saturday – the individual time trial. We will see how it goes," said Iurii Trofimov.

Iurii Trofimov has quietly ridden a solid Tour de France, taking seventeenth on stage 18 and maintaining a high placing on the classification. Trofimov is 14th as the best placed rider from Team Katusha.

The 101st Tour de France now says goodbye to the mountains and looks toward Paris on Sunday.  Before the ceremonial last day are two more stages – Friday’s 208,5 km opportunity for the sprinters on stage 19 from Maubourguet Pays du Val d'Adour to Bergerac and the time trial.