He crowned the breakaway! Italian Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) emerged victorious in the nineteenth stage of the Giro d’Italia after riding 157 kilometers between Mortegliano and Sappada. His breakaway companions Pelayo Sanchez of Spain and Georg Steinhauser of Germany finished second and third, respectively.
The riders in the general classification arrived relaxed at more than 15 minutes, saving their strength for Saturday’s very tough mountain stage. The bunch was led by Austrian Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates).
The first attackers of the day were Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla), Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar).
After a few kilometers, these first escapees were joined by Edward Theuns, Jasper Stuyven (both Lidl-Trek), Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), Mattia Bais (Polti Kometa), Tim van Dijke, Jan Tratnik (both Visma | Lease a Bike), Andrea Piccolo, Mikkel Frølich Honoré, Georg Steinhauser (all EF Education-EasyPost), Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan), Dries De Pooter (Intermarché-Wanty), Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco AlUla) and Manuele Tarozzi (Polti Kometa).
After the last group made the jump after 70 kilometers of racing, the peloton finally decided to slow down. The lead group built a big lead, which made it clear that the winner was clearly in the breakaway.
In the end, Italian Andrea Vendrame was the strongest of the breakaway, who held strong on the steepest sections. Despite some counterattacks by Steinhauser and Sanchez, Vendrame reached the summit with a lead of more than a minute. In the final kilometers, the Italian did not give up his victory, the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider entered the finish in Sappada alone. Sanchez had to settle for second place and Steinhauser was third.
As for the Colombians, Daniel Felipe Martínez (BORA-hansgrohe) came in 23rd, Einer Rubió (Movistar Team) in 25th place and Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) in 43rd place, closing the group of favorites. The rest of the nationals arrived in the group further behind.
The Italian round will continue this Saturday, May 25, with its 20th stage, a mountainous fraction of 184 kilometers between Alpago and Bassano del Grappa, which includes two first category passes.
Giro d’Italia 2024 (2.UWT)
Results Stage 19 | Mortegliano – Sappada (157 km)
| 1 | Andrea Vendrame | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 3:51:05 |
| 2 | Pelayo Sánchez | Movistar Team | 0:54 |
| 3 | Georg Steinhauser | EF Education – EasyPost | 1:07 |
| 4 | Jhonatan Narváez | INEOS Grenadiers | 2:27 |
| 5 | Luke Plapp | Team Jayco AlUla | ,, |
| 6 | Simone Velasco | Astana Qazaqstan Team | 2:30 |
| 7 | Jan Tratnik | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 8 | Michael Valgren | EF Education – EasyPost | ,, |
| 9 | Julian Alaphilippe | Soudal Quick-Step | 2:32 |
| 10 | Quinten Hermans | Alpecin – Deceuninck | 3:52 |
Ranking General
| 1 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates | 71:24:03 |
| 2 | Daniel Felipe Martínez | BORA – hansgrohe | 7:42 |
| 3 | Geraint Thomas | INEOS Grenadiers | 8:04 |
| 4 | Ben O’Connor | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 9:47 |
| 5 | Antonio Tiberi | Bahrain – Victorious | 10:29 |
| 6 | Thymen Arensman | INEOS Grenadiers | 11:10 |
| 7 | Romain Bardet | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | 12:42 |
| 8 | Einer Rubio | Movistar Team | 13:33 |
| 9 | Filippo Zana | Team Jayco AlUla | 13:52 |
| 10 | Jan Hirt | Soudal Quick-Step | 14:44 |