Buitrago won the last difficult mountain stage, to Roglic

The field of the Giro d’Italia embarked on its last difficult mountain stage on Friday, the 183-kilometer distance between Longarone and Tre Cime di Lavaredo awaited the cyclists.

Hugh Carthy, EF Education-EasyPost’s 14th overall competitor, did not start due to stomach problems, so the field started without him shortly before noon.

It took about an hour for the escapees to establish their advantage, while overall leader Geraint Thomas and his chaser Primoz Roglic were in the field.

The leading group of 12 people continued to crumble in the middle of the stage, with only five escapees left 40 kilometers before the finish line, but they kept closing in on them.

The rain stopped, and by the last ten kilometers it seemed that one of the four of Santiago Buitrago, Magnus Cort, Derek Gee, and Michael Hepburn would win Friday’s stage.

The Colombian made a move with his Canadians, but Gee was able to shake off Buitrago a bit, but he got tired at the end. Buitrago overtook him, pulled away at the end and won the stage with a relatively comfortable lead of 50 seconds – already on dry asphalt. This is the second victory of the Colombian in his career at the Giro, he triumphed for the first time a year ago. Gee finished second again, already fourth in this year’s circuit.

The last kilometer also brought a serious battle to those at the top of the group. Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas, who have been relatively far back in the field so far, started with the latter’s lead and started to hold on. Joao Almeida also joined them, but the Portuguese was the least able to endure the end. Although Thomas was ahead of Roglic until the last meters, he tired himself out at the end, so the Slovenian was able to overtake him and gain three seconds over him in the overall.

So Thomas remained in the lead, with Roglic behind him by a minimal margin, and Almeida was still third, whose disadvantage increased with two stages to go.

On Saturday, the final mountain time trial awaits the field, 18.6 kilometers between Tarvisio and Monte Lussari.

BICYCLE
GIRO D’ITALIA
Stage 19, Longarone to Tre Cime di Lavaredo, 183 km
1. Santiago Buitrago (Colombia, Bahrain-Victorious) 5:28:07
2. Derek Gee (Canada, Israel-Premier Tech) +51 second disadvantage
3. Magnus Cort (Denmark, EF Education-EasyPost) +1:46 p h.

COMPLEX
1. Geraint Thomas (Great Britain, Ineos Grenadiers) 81:55:47
2. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia, Jumbo-Visma) +26 sec h.
3. Joao Almeida (Portugal, UAE) +59 sec h.