Giro d’Italia 2024 Stage Report: Stage 16 was made for a break to go all the way to the finish and the peloton was quite happy to let them. In the finale, Andrea Vendrame rode away from the other escapees to give his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team another win. Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar) finished second at 54 seconds and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), winner of stage 17, was third at 1:07. The favourites finished together, although Geraint Thomas crashed with 6 kilometres to go, but the others waited.
The finale of stage 19
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Another win for the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team – This time for Andrea Vendrame
Andrea Vendrame won the nineteenth stage of the Giro d’Italia after a solo of 28 kilometres. Pelayo Sánchez and Georg Steinhauser finished second and third. The GC riders let the break go, so Tadej Pogačar is still the overall leader with two stages to go.
The route travels up the Valle del Tagliamento, passing San Daniele del Friuli, Forgaria nel Friuli and Peonis. Past Tolmezzo, the riders will take in consecutive ascents to Passo Duron, Sella Valcalda and Cima Sappada, followed by a short descent leading to the finish. The roads, both up and downhill, are narrow and have a lot of bends. The course merges onto the Sappada cycle track with approx. 5km to go. The roadway here is slightly narrower, and there is a mild downhill gradient. The route turns right at the 2 km mark, and the pitch goes up (reaching 10%). The gradient eases out to 5% in the urban area, until the last kilometre, and then the road descends for a few hundred metres up to the home straight (400m), on 6m wide tarmac.
Yes, your name is still on the trophy, Alberto
Can Geraint Thomas move up the podium?
Just three more stages…
The escape specialists were looking forward to stage 19 on Friday. Tadej Pogačar said he was more interested in the victory on Saturday and Sunday is for the sprinters and the celebrations in Rome. The stage was for the ‘Break of the Day’.
Which Polti Kometa rider, or riders, will be in the break today?
Julian Alaphilippe seems to have found some of his old form
That lad in pink seems popular
From the start in Mortegliano, the route was undulating for a while, which was ideal for an escape. Daan Hoole, Attila Valter, Magnus Sheffield and Andrea Vendrame were first to get away, but their lead was never large. The pace in the peloton was at that point as many teams were not happy with the composition of the leading group.
The jerseys at the start in Mortegliano
On one of early climbs in the stage, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) jumped across to the leaders. This gave us a lead group of Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla), Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar).
The last chance for a break to go all the way
The six leaders struggled to stay away, but they were eventually joined by thirteen other riders: Edward Theuns & Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), Mattia Bais (Polti Kometa), Tim van Dijke & Jan Tratnik (Visma | Lease a Bike), Andrea Piccolo, Mikkel Frølich Honoré & Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan), Dries De Pooter (Intermarché-Wanty), Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco AlUla) and Manuele Tarozzi (Polti Kometa).
The peloton and Pogačar were happy to let them take 15 minutes
After the last group had made the jump, after 70 kilometres, the peloton decided to let them go. The leading group started to create a big lead, the winner was going to come from this group, but we would have a long wait for the final battle.
A day out for the escape
Alaphilippe was there again, but…
On the Passo Duron (6.9km at 5.8%), the toughest climb of the day, the attacks started again. It was Alaphilippe who threw down the gauntlet. The Frenchman thinned out the leading group and after the summit was crossed, there was only Narváez, Steinhauser, Sánchez, Hermans and Vendrame left at the front. The battle was not over yet, because the chasing group was not that far away. Plapp, who has been ill, was able to jump across to the leaders.
It wasn’t an easy day for the break
Vendrame took advantage of a descent to get away. The Italian realised that his climbing wasn’t as strong as the others and so, with 28 kilometres to go, he went solo. It was a smart move by Vendrame and he quickly built up a nice lead. Alaphilippe, Narváez, Sánchez, Plapp, Steinhauser and Hermans started the final climb of the Cima Cappada (10.7 km at 4.4%), a minute behind the Italian.
Andrea Vendrame still had 28 kilometres to go
Jhonatan Narvaez (INEOS Grenadiers) tried to chase the Italian
The chase wasn’t good. Vendrame continued his bold effort and held out on the steepest sections. Despite some counter-attacks from Steinhauser and Sánchez, Vendrame reached the top with more than a minute’s lead. In the last kilometres Vendrame didn’t lose any time, the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider finished solo in Sappada. Sánchez had to settle for second place, Steinhauser came third.
Georg Steinhauser was looking for another Giro stage win
Behind the GC men still had hard work in the last 10 kilometres. Einer Rubio attacked and caused some chaos. Geraint Thomas was not paying attention and hit the wheel in front of him and crashed with 6 kilometres to go. Pogačar and the other GC men eased off to wait for Thomas, who was able to return to the group of favourites. No one lost or gained time and so Pogačar is still the Giro race leader.
Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Julian Alaphilippe Julian (Soudal Quick-Step) tried to follow
Vendrame on his way to the win
Stage winner, Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale): “I had been aiming for this stage since the start of the Giro. It was important to get into the day’s breakaway, and I tried to save energies the whole day. I attacked on the descent, taking a risk, saw that I had a good lead and kept pushing. It’s a special emotion because I won close to my home.”
Is it the new bikes or the loss of the brown shorts? Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) wins stage 19
Overall leader and KOM, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “We’ll go for it again tomorrow. We are ready as a team. It was a controlled day. It did rain at the end, which was a shame. Geraint Thomas also fell, that was a strange moment. I do not know what happened. We then waited for him, everyone showed respect. Hopefully he is okay and feels okay again tomorrow. We’ll see if we have good legs tomorrow. Today we saved our strength. Tomorrow will be tough, but we are ready. We’re going for it. Today I have already seen a lot of Slovenian flags and tomorrow there will be even more. I’m looking forward to it.”
Another hard day on Saturday to come
# Stay tuned to PEZ for the last two Giro’24 stages. #
Giro d’Italia Stage 19 Result:
1. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale in 3:51:05
2. Pelayo Sánchez (Spa) Movistar at 0:54
3. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-EasyPost at 1:07
4. Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) INEOS Grenadiers at 2:27
5. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco AlUla
6. Simone Velasco (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan at 2:30
7. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Visma | Lease a Bike
8. Michael Valgren (Den) EF Education-EasyPost
9. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step at 2:32
10. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck at 3:52
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 19:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 71:24:03
2. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) BORA-hansgrohe at 7:42
3. Geraint Thomas (GB) INEOS Grenadiers at 8:04
4. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale at 9:47
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious at 10:29
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) INEOS Grenadiers at 11:10
7. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL at 12:42
8. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar at 13:33
9. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco AlUla at 13:52
10. Jan Hirt (CZ) Soudal Quick-Step at 14:44.
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