[12][13] Prior to Froome's withdrawal, there was no official announcement by Team Ineos on leadership for the Tour,[14] which could have potentially been shared between himself, Thomas and Egan Bernal.

[21] Bernal made his Tour debut in 2018 riding as a domestique (leader's assistant) for Froome and Thomas, who are ten years his senior.

His form was lacking in the build up to the Tour, although his experience and the consistency of his previous performances in the race were considered enough to make him a serious contender.

[21][23][24][25] The 2018 winner of the points classification, Peter Sagan (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe), returned to defend his title in an attempt to break Erik Zabel's record of six wins.

[42][43] On 30 May 2017, the ASO announced that Brussels would host the 2019 edition's opening stages (known as the Grand Départ), honouring one of the Tour's most successful riders, Belgian Eddy Merckx, on the 50th anniversary of his first of five overall victories.

[55] Of the 34 stage start or finish hosts, the race visited Binche, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges and Pont du Gard for the first time.

[63] An early four-man breakaway, which included mountains classification leader Wellens, was caught well before the sprint bunch finish, won by Sagan.

Wellens and Xandro Meurisse (Wanty–Gobert), the former having secured his polka dot jersey for another day, were distanced on the final climb by Dylan Teuns (Bahrain–Merida) and Giulio Ciccone (Trek–Segafredo).

[65] The final 500 m (1,640 ft) also proved to be a difficulty for general classification contenders Vincenzo Nibali, Richie Porte and Romain Bardet, who lost time on the climb.

[66] Stage 7, returning to the flat after the Vosges Mountains, was uneventful, with the breakaway being held by the peloton to only a few minutes,[67] and despite early crashes by Tejay van Garderen and Teunissen, ended in a technical bunch sprint won by Groenewegen.

[68] The Tour began its traverse of the Massif Central with stage 8; with close to 4,000 m (13,000 ft) of elevation gain, it was seen before the race as a potential win from a breakaway,[55] which on the day had four riders.

Following this, a leading trio emerged, consisting of Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), Tiesj Benoot (Lotto–Soudal) and Daryl Impey (Mitchelton–Scott).

Roche was dropped before the finish, leaving the victory to Impey who overcame Benoot in the final sprint,[71] in a day which otherwise saw no significant changes in the overall standings.

[55] With 30 km (18.6 mi) remaining, splits occurred in the peloton as Team Ineos and others took to the front and broke the field apart in strong crosswinds.

This effort proved decisive, as several overall contenders who were caught behind, including Pinot, Richie Porte, Rigoberto Urán, Jakob Fuglsang and Mikel Landa, lost time on the front group.

[75] Home favourite Pinot, despite being 1' 21" back from Thomas in eleventh place, was considered by his directeur sportif Marc Madiot to still be in contention.

The mountains classification was more closely contested, with breakaway riders and Lotto–Soudal teammates Wellens and De Gendt respectively first and second, with a gap of six points.

[49] Stage 11's small breakaway was caught with 5 km (3.1 mi) remaining, before Caleb Ewan won the bunch sprint finish.

[81] Wout van Aert, one of the favourites for the stage, had to abandon the race during the time trial after he crashed, having clipped a barrier on the side of the road.

[82] On stage 14, the last of the breakaway riders were caught by the leading group of general classification contenders at 10 km (6.2 mi) before the finish atop the hors catégorie Col du Tourmalet.

With 1 km (0.62 mi) remaining, Thomas got detached from the lead group containing Alaphilippe, Emanuel Buchmann, Pinot, Bernal, Landa and Steven Kruijswijk.

The duo of Bernal and Buchmann came in 33' down, followed by the last few breakaway riders, and then the group of favourites, led by Thomas, who finished 1' 22" behind Yates.

Matteo Trentin of Mitchelton–Scott attacked a reduced breakaway with 40 km (25 mi) from the finish on the final climb, the third-category Côte de la Sentinelle, and soloed to victory with lead of 37 seconds, with peloton over 20 minutes behind.

Nairo Quintana attacked with 7.5 km (4.7 mi) still to climb, and by the summit had built a lead of over a minute and a half, which he held on the descent to the finish.

[90] The lead of the mountains classification went to Romain Bardet, who was a pre-race favourite for the yellow jersey but moved out of contention after losing 20 minutes on stage 14's Col du Tourmalet, thereafter switching focus to breakaway rides.

[92] At the head of the race in the closing kilometres of the planned second to last climb, the hors catégorie Col de l'Iseran, Bernal attacked from the group of overall contenders, catching and passing final breakaway riders by the summit.

[95] A group of 29 riders established a two-and-a-half minute lead over the peloton, before being vastly reduced to six on the early slopes of the Val Thorens climb.

With 12 km (7.5 mi) remaining, Nibali attacked from this group and soloed to victory, ten seconds ahead of chasers Landa and Alejandro Valverde.

[100] In an effort to animate racing in the general classification, time bonuses of 8, 5, and 2 seconds respectively were also awarded for the first three riders across a mountain summit, given out on eight climbs.

[106] In addition, there was a combativity award given after each stage to the rider considered, by a jury, to have "made the greatest effort and who demonstrated the best qualities of sportsmanship".