Giro d’Italia: Sepp Kuss triumphant on queen stage as Jonas Vingegaard lives up to promise

The peloton heads into the Dolomites (Image credit: Getty Images)

The Giro d’Italia has long left its most brutal tests to the backend of the race, and the 109th edition was no different, with stage 19 bringing the remaining riders to an epic day in the Dolomites, where 151km and almost 5000m of elevation gain would decide the race.

46km of racing brought them to the foot of the first climb, the Passo Duran, and several riders were interested in making it there with a gap already established. Many of the big teams tried their luck, with 16 riders eventually managing to get away over the undulating terrain.

Ciccone leads the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)

The race was far from settled, though, with Visma-Lease a Bike keeping the gap close under two minutes, and once the peloton reached the 12-kilometre climbs, that initial break was caught and a new break started to form, with the likes of Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Sepp Kuss (Visma) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) present.
Having started the day in ninth overall, Caruso’s presence prompted more attacks from top-10 GC riders, with Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) trying to bridge across, Tudor launching a team attack for Michael Storer, and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) following.

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Stage winner Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana) was driving on the group in front, with Will Barta pushing on for Tudor, and Tim Rex pacing for Visma, with groups forming all over the Duran. O’Connor started to struggle due to his efforts, and he soon went backwards before the crest was reached.

Ciccone reached the top first, almost halving what started as an 81-point deficit to Vingegaard in the King of the Mountains classification at the start of the day, and once the leaders got onto the long descent, the groups came together around two minutes ahead of the peloton.

Some 26 riders emerged in front as they hit the second categorised ascent of the day to Coi: Caruso, Harper, David de la Cruz (Pinarello Q36.5), Kuss, Bettiol, Storer, Barta, Stork, Mathys Rondel (Tudor), Ciccone, Gee-West, Matteo Sobrero (Lidl-Trek), Enric Mas, Einer Rubio, Juan Pedor López, Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), Bjerg, Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Darren Rafferty, Jardi Christian van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Jan Hirt (NSN), Kulset, Wout Poels (Unibet Rose Rockets), Ludovico Crescioli (Polti VisitMalta), and Embret Svestad-Bårdseng (Netcompany Ineos).

Rubio and Ciccone attacked away with 81km to go on the steep slopes to Coi, with several riders dropping under the pressure, and the Visma-led peloton still staying in striking distance at 2:11 down the road. Ciccone led over the climbs to Coi and Forcella Staulanza, gaining 36 more KOM points.

The pink jersey group heads up the Passo Giau (Image credit: Getty Images)

The Passo Giau: 9.9km with an average gradient of 9.3%, and climbing up to 2,233 metres above sea level, the holding pattern which had brought the riders to the foot of the climb was about to be ripped apart on one of the Giro’s most iconic climbs, a real monster of the Dolomites.

The break had come back together by this point, and Lidl-Trek took control through Sobrero, then Gee-West pacing himself on the front of the breakaway, with only the top climbers still hanging on in both the lead group and the peloton.

With the prestige of Cima Coppi on the line, several attacks were made, but Ciccone took the prize over the top and also moved into the virtual lead of the King of the Mountains classification with 50 points added to his total.

Eight riders remained in the lead of the race, Ciccone, Pellizzari, Rubio, Gee-West, Storer, Caruso and Hirt.

Ciccone leads Rubio in pursuit of mountain points (Image credit: Getty Images)

Behind, Visma had retaken control from Red Bull through the supporter-lined roads approaching the summit, and they went over the top with just 2:25 to make up on the eight leaders.

Decathlon were the equal best-represented team in what remained of the peloton, and that showed when they moved to the front to start pacing the final 40km, with Johannes Staune-Mittet and Gregor Mühlberger riding for Gall. Gee-West and Storer were also beginning to threaten their leader’s podium spot with a growing lead of 2:45.

Comparatively, Vingegaard had Bart Lemmen and Davide Piganzoli with him, and Thymen Arensman was still flanked by Egan Bernal and Svestad-Bårdseng from the early break. Hindley and former race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) were without teammates, but both had teammates up the road.

As Ciccone started repaying the work done for him by Gee-West and pacing the Passo Falzarego, Netcompany Ineos blinked in the group behind to protect Arensman’s third place.

Gee-West nabbed six bonus seconds at the Red Bull Kilometre and Storer four as they battled it out, having started the day separated by just five seconds in favour of the Canadian champion.

This annoyed Rubio, who was clearly expecting to be allowed to ride through the Red Bull sprint point – as the leader of the classification – provoking him to outsprint Ciccone at the crest of the Falzarego, losing the Italian 10 points in his pursuit of the blue jersey.

In response, Ciccone started the descent with his frustration clear to see, but turned his anger into a daredevil start to the lengthy downhill road, which would lead the race to the foot of the final climb. In a flash, he was a minute ahead of the chasers with 15km to go.

Kuss rides away from Ciccone (Image credit: Getty Images)

Ciccone reached the foot of the final ascent to the line with a one-minute lead on the remnants of the break and 2:17 over the peloton. Just 5km separated from the stage win he’s been chasing so desperately all race, but the gradients averaged almost 10% all the way up.

In the GC group, Decathlon took over from Ineos to try and launch Gall again, setting an infernal pace which dropped Eulálio, and started to reduce the gap to Ciccone and the rest in front significantly.

Mühlberger continued to press on, before Gall attacked with only Vingegaard able to follow. Hindley also responded well, although he wasn’t immediately in the wheel of the top two on GC, and as Arensman started to struggle, his podium spot was at risk of disappearing.

In front, Kuss had attacked and was flying across the gap to Ciccone, reducing his lead to just 18 seconds 2.6km from the top with no one able to match his speed uphill. However, Gall’s attack had brought them within a minute of the lead and the stage win.

Kuss reached Ciccone 400 metres later and immediately sped away from him. Clearly the strongest from the break, he climbed solo to the victory to complete the set of Grand Tour stage wins.

The GC favourites came home 39 seconds later, with Gall leading Vingegaard and Hindley across the line in a small group. The Australian had successfully jumped onto the podium, with Arensman losing just over a minute to them. With one more day of climbing to come tomorrow, the Dutchman will have a 29-second deficit to overcome if he wants to finish third overall.