Thymen Arenman put in a gritty, determined performance on the final climb as he limited his losses on a brutal stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia.
Arensman was dropped by a late attack on the summit finish by Felix Gall, decided not to follow but managed to pace himself to reduce the deficit and give himself a chance of retaining his podium place on stage 20.
Sepp Kuss (Visma – Lease a bike) earned the stage win from the break, with Arensman finishing 12th and Egan Bernal 13th to move fourth and 10th on GC respectively.
Earlier, Netcompany INEOS had been aggressive from the outset, aiming to put a rider into the early break.
The battle for the break raged for many kilometres, but it was only when the climbs started to build that any difference was seen.
Embret Svestad-Bårdseng joined the escapees and was part of the break that formed from two splinter groups combined. The Norwegian rider was then able to stay ahead, until the group – which contained three riders in the top 10 on GC – started to gain significant time.
Svestad-Bårdseng then dropped back to the dwindling group of favourites and helped raise the pace to draw Arensman and Bernal back to the break ahead of the final climb where both GC riders paced themselves to limit losses and stay in contention ahead of the final mountain test on stage 20.