L'Equipe, a specialist in impactful graphic choices, places the great tenors on the cover, with the hairpins of Alpe d'Huez in the background but not too far: "Sur leur 21" is a headline dedicated to the mythical hairpins and their awaited protagonists, who according to Alexandre Roos' article are heading into the great battle.

Pogacar's assault on myths is the choice of Gazzetta, on whose pages Ciro Scognamiglio recalls: "Jacques Augendre, historian of the Tour de France, had defined it as a 'Hollywoodian' climb. And indeed at Alpe d'Huez there cannot help but be the sense of a colossal cycling feat without equal, brimming with history and legend ever since, in 1952, the Champion Fausto Coppi was the first to conquer it. While to the collection of feats of Tadej Pogacar".

Tadej knows it well, despite dealing with ailments that worry the UAE team somewhat. The break granted by the Slovenian was not a recreation, but today, as Marco Bonarrigo predicts in Corriere della Sera, the Martians will come out into the open. If on Repubblica it is Cosimo Cito who reminds us how Pogacar fears the virus of climbs more, there is also space for yesterday's winner: "The face of an ancient climber of Richard Carapaz appeared first at the top of the Orcières-Merlette climb". Beautiful and thorough is the analysis by Pier Augusto Stagi in Il Giornale: "Today they go fast, much faster than before, and they race fairer Tours. The cycling of Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard and Paul Seixas is clearly more 'democratic'". On Mars, then, does Democracy flourish? Who knows, certainly - Stagi adds - the pencil with which Leblanc drew the Grande Boucle was benevolent towards the great time-trialist Miguel Indurain.

GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT
POGACAR'S ASSAULT ON MYTHS
Here it comes, it's arriving. Jacques Augendre, historian of the Tour de France, had defined it as a "Hollywoodian" climb. And indeed at Alpe d'Huez there cannot help but be the sense of a colossal cycling feat without equal, brimming with history and legend ever since, in 1952, the Champion Fausto Coppi was the first to conquer it. While to the collection of feats of Tadej Pogacar – who finished fifth in 2022 – something is missing: natural, then, that the world champion is the most awaited today in stage 19 of the 113th edition, after yesterday's success at Orcières-Merlette by Richard Carapaz. (Ciro Scognamiglio)

CORRIERE DELLA SERA
TOUR NIGHTMARE FOR ITALIANS, NOW TWO DAYS OF ALPE D'HUEZ
Every time King Pogacar gives the green light, whoever can takes advantage. At Orcières there was the last chance for a breakaway in this Tour because today and tomorrow on the Alpe d'Huez it will be a battle among Martians. Richard Carapaz took advantage of it, someone who has won stages in all the grand tours (and an Olympics), someone who when he sees a vertical opportunity to escape, like yesterday three kilometers from the finish, escapes. The 45 fugitives of the day represented 15 nations (ten French) with only one Italian, Damiano Caruso: the Sicilian held on as long as his 38 years allowed him to before finishing eight minutes behind Carapaz. (Marco Bonarrigo)

REPUBBLICA
POGACAR FEARS THE VIRUS MORE THAN THE CLIMBS
The face of an ancient climber of Richard Carapaz appeared first at the top of the Orcières-Merlette climb. The Ecuadorian won in his own way, in a breakaway, choosing the moment of attack from the small group perfectly, at -3 km. It is a place that deserves respect: here Eddy Merckx experienced the first great crisis of his career, 55 years ago. Here Van Impe, Pascal Simon, Rooks and Roglic won at the dawn of the Pogi era, in 2020. Today, three days from the highly probable Parisian triumph, Pogacar must fill a glaring void for someone like him, namely winning a stage on one of the Tour's historic climbs. (Cosimo Cito)

IL GIORNALE
THE TOUR HAS REPAIRED THE INJUSTICES OF THE PAST
Today they go fast, much faster than before, and they race fairer Tours. The cycling of Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard and Paul Seixas is clearly more "democratic". Numbers come to our aid, as always. In the days of Miguel Indurain, the great time-trialist of the Nineties who fought with our Bugno and Chiappucci, the Tours were designed in his image and likeness. Jean-Marie Leblanc, the great patron of the French race, tailored routes for him that could exalt his time-trialing abilities. (Pier Augusto Stagi)

L'EQUIPE
THE GREAT BATTLE
The riders are pushing to the limit in this Tour de France; winning a victory now requires an unshakeable will to keep trying. This explains why you often see the same faces at the front – and, above all, the same legs –: nothing in this edition of the race is easy, and winning is even less so. Remco Evenepoel, Isaac Del Toro, Tadej Pogačar and Paul Seixas. The day after Jasper Philipsen's victory – obtained after a hunt for success in the Grande Boucle that lasted until the seventeenth stage – Richard Carapaz also enjoyed his moment of glory at Orcières-Merlette. (Alexandre Roos)