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Stage 19 of the 2015 Giro d’Italia has been won in a solo attack on the final climb by Italian Fabio Aru of Team Astana .
He was able to attack out of his chase group which featured Alberto Contador after more than 6 hours in the saddle and then, not only bridge the gap to Ryder Hesejdal, but ride away and win the stage in a solo effort.
Early in the day a 9 rider breakaway group went clear which featured Carlos Betancur, Matteo Montaguti (both AG2R), Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC), Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), Pavel Kosjetkov (Katusha), Nick van der Lijke (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Vasil Kirijenka (Team Sky).
However they only got as far as the first category 1 climb of the day before they imploded. From there Giovanni Visconti was the main animater of the race as he was able to hold the Astana controlled peloton at bay for much of the stage and indeed into the final climb of the day. Unfortunately, the race was brought back together with about 10km to go after Tiralongo hit the front of the bunch for a number of km.
The first attack for the General Classification came from Ryder Hesejdal. He was able to hold a gap over what was left of the peloton before Mikel Landa went on the attack. This sparked Alberto Contador into action and a very select group of about 4 or 5 riders went up the road.
From there Aru attacked and Contador decided to let him go, meaning he had a free reign. He caught Hesejdal, attacked straight around him and managed to ride the final couple of kilometres on his own to win the stage.
Back in the main group, Rigoberto Uran managed to come from a group behind and display some sort of form for the first time in the Giro.
In the end though, Fabio Aru made the most of his team working hard all day and Contador not chasing him, taking out the stage in a solo victory, moving back into second place on the general classification.
Alberto Contador has the finish line in sight to win a second Giro d’Italia, but first he must get over a tough final weekend of climbing. Stage 19 is one of the longest of the race at 236 km stretching from Gravellona Toce to Cervinia.
Join The Roar for live coverage of the stage from 9:45pm (AEST) this evening.
Firstly, looking back to yesterday and stage 18 we saw Phillippe Gilbert (BMC) win the stage by almost a minute after being in the day’s breakaway. He won ahead of Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani CSF) and Sylvain Chavanel (IAM), however that wasn’t the main story of the day.
The man currently sitting in second place on the General Classification Mikel Landa (Astana) was caught behind a crash with not all that long to go in the stage. Losing time on the main field, race leader Alberto Contador (Saxo) was able to lift the pace and distance the whole field. In the end the move from Contador cost Landa over a minute.
Moving onto to stage 19 now, and what a day it promises to be. With three category one climbs in the final 85km of the stage it promises to inflict more pain on an already tired field.
The first 150km however, whilst fractionally rolling are mainly flat and a breakaway will be able to get clear of the peloton and get a big advantage. There is one categorised climb in the first part of the stage which comes after 85km and is a category 3 ascent. Taking into account how tough the Giro has been so far, and with what is still on the menu no one will be keen to chase.
The real climbing begins with the category one climb of Saint – Barthelemy. It is 16.5 km in length and averages a gradient of 6.7% with ramps as steep as 13%. Whilst the race won’t be won here, some long range attacks could certainly be attempted, given some of the time gaps in the main field. Saxo wont be able to chase everyone down.
The riders will reach the summit with 68km to go and then the climb doesn’t go down hill straight away, instead continuing flat for a couple of kilometres. Following the descent they will arrive at the second climb of the day, the col Saint – Pantaleon which again is 16.5 km in length, but is a fraction steeper than the first climb at an average gradient of 7.2%.
The summit of this climb is reached with 28 km to go, before a just short of 10 km descent. As soon as the descent is over, the final climb of the day to the finish line at Cervinia. It is 19.2 km with an average gradient of 5%, however the early exchanges of the climb can almost be defined as a false flat.
The next 10km or so are very up and down before the climb then does kick up with about 6 km to an average of 6.6%. The final 2 km or so however are more or less flat, with an uphill false flat.
Alberto Contador (Saxo) with his form has to be the favourite. His team will ride and then he will attack. Who can follow him is anyone’s guess. Mikel Landa (Astana), Fabio Aru (Astana) among others like Andrey Amador (Movistar), Yury Trofimov (Katusha) and Leopold Konig (Sky) all will be looking to stay with him.
Steven Kruijswik (Lotto Jumbo) has been in excellent form and is in the top 10 on General Classification. Watch for a long range attack from him.
PREDICTION: It will either be the morning breakaway or Alberto Contador for mine. The only thing that can upset that is if one of the top 10 riders attacks on the first or second climb and Saxo back off the pace.
Join The Roar for our live coverage of stage 19 from the 2015 Giro d’Italia from 9:45pm (AEST) and don’t forget to leave a comment if you’re following along!