Astana’s Roman Kreuziger took out stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia as Ryder Hesjedal threw down the gauntlet in the battle for the pink jersey.
Advertisement
On the final climb of a gruelling stage, Kreuziger chased down Sandy Casar (FDJ-BigMat) and Colnago-CSF Bardiani’s Stefano Pirazzi, the two remaining riders from an original bunch of 17 that had left the peloton behind within the opening 25 minutes of the day’s ride.
Kreuziger, who won the award for best young rider at last year’s Giro, struggled up the final few kilometres of Alpe di Pampeago but held on to win. Today’s 198km stage saw Hesjedal strengthen his chances of overall victory with a powerful finish.
The Canadian from Garmin-Barracuda rode away from his main rivals for the pink jersey, including leader Joaquim Rodriguez, to finish second. As the leaders hit the final five kilometres, Hesjedal and Lampre-ISD’s Michele Scarponi were the only two riders that showed the interest and strength to attack.
Rodriguez, Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale), Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Bardiani) matched Hesjedal and Scarponi on the first couple of attacks before eventually dropping off. Hesjedal was too strong for Scarponi and looked capable of catching Kreuziger before settling for second.
But the positive for Hesjedal was that, with only two stages left, including Sunday’s individual time trial, the 31-year-old took 13 seconds off Rodriguez’s lead. The Katusha rider retained the pink jersey but has only 17 seconds on Hesjedal, with Scarponi one minute and 39 seconds behind.
Basso is fourth, six seconds behind Scarponi, while Uran and Pozzovivo are both over three minutes off Rodriguez. Today’s victory was Kreuziger’s first career stage win at the Giro d’Italia. With less than four kilometres to go, Pirazzi burst away from Casar in what looked like a winning attack.
But almost simultaneously, Kreuziger rode away from a chasing group to join Casar. The Czech 26-year-old led Casar past Pirazzi and then dropped the Frenchman on the final stages of the climb.
Kreuziger clinches gruelling stage 19 in Giro
PHEW! THAT WAS a tough one!
Astana’s Roman Kreuziger took out stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia as Ryder Hesjedal threw down the gauntlet in the battle for the pink jersey.
On the final climb of a gruelling stage, Kreuziger chased down Sandy Casar (FDJ-BigMat) and Colnago-CSF Bardiani’s Stefano Pirazzi, the two remaining riders from an original bunch of 17 that had left the peloton behind within the opening 25 minutes of the day’s ride.
Kreuziger, who won the award for best young rider at last year’s Giro, struggled up the final few kilometres of Alpe di Pampeago but held on to win. Today’s 198km stage saw Hesjedal strengthen his chances of overall victory with a powerful finish.
The Canadian from Garmin-Barracuda rode away from his main rivals for the pink jersey, including leader Joaquim Rodriguez, to finish second. As the leaders hit the final five kilometres, Hesjedal and Lampre-ISD’s Michele Scarponi were the only two riders that showed the interest and strength to attack.
Rodriguez, Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale), Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Bardiani) matched Hesjedal and Scarponi on the first couple of attacks before eventually dropping off. Hesjedal was too strong for Scarponi and looked capable of catching Kreuziger before settling for second.
But the positive for Hesjedal was that, with only two stages left, including Sunday’s individual time trial, the 31-year-old took 13 seconds off Rodriguez’s lead. The Katusha rider retained the pink jersey but has only 17 seconds on Hesjedal, with Scarponi one minute and 39 seconds behind.
Basso is fourth, six seconds behind Scarponi, while Uran and Pozzovivo are both over three minutes off Rodriguez. Today’s victory was Kreuziger’s first career stage win at the Giro d’Italia. With less than four kilometres to go, Pirazzi burst away from Casar in what looked like a winning attack.
But almost simultaneously, Kreuziger rode away from a chasing group to join Casar. The Czech 26-year-old led Casar past Pirazzi and then dropped the Frenchman on the final stages of the climb.
Olympic mystery: Where is the London cauldron?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
All Sports Cycling English Giro d'Italia Review