ANDREA VENDRAME WON the 19th stage of the Giro d’Italia today after slipping away from the other survivors of a long breakaway on a hilly 157 kilometre run from Mortegliano to Sappada.
“It’s a nice day today,” said the Italian who also won a stage in 2021.
Vendrame, who rides for Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, crossed the line 54 seconds ahead of Pelayo Sanchez with Georg Steinhauser third, another 13 seconds behind.
The peloton, headed by runaway leader Tadej Pogacar led in by two UAE team-mates, crossed the line 15 minutes and 56 seconds back. Pogacar leads the tour by 7 minutes and 42 seconds, with Daniel Martinez in second place.
“We were really conservative with the team. Nobody spent too much energy,” Pogacar told Eurosport, suggesting that he had been looking ahead to Saturday’s mountainous penultimate stage. “Tomorrow is the last day of the Giro for us climbers.”
Geraint Thomas, who is third in the overall standings, benefited from the sportsmanship of his rivals after he fell, looking over his shoulder, 6km from the finish as the peloton meandered into the final climb.
The group of leaders waited for the Welsh Ineos rider to run back to the team car and collect a spare bike.
“Shows everyone has respect to everyone,” said Pogacar. “In this group, nobody wanted to pass Thomas in that way. I hope he’s OK after the crash, it’s unfortunate . . . this stupid moment at the end. Hope we can have a great show tomorrow.”
Saturday’s mountainous 184km run south from Alpago to Bassano del Grappa gives Pogacar’s rivals one last chance to attack him before the race ends Sunday with a flat circuit starting and ending in Rome.
But Pogacar repeated that he hopes to collect a sixth stage victory in this year’s race.
“The best thing is to arrive solo,” he said at Friday’s finish. “But you never know. Maybe tomorrow someone will be stronger than me.”
