Giro d'Italia 2024 Stage 19

May 24, 2024 Likely the final chance for break success in this Giro meant a fight to get in the move. A flat start with a hilly finale would make it complicated for the rouleurs and climbers to form a cohesive group. 10 riders got away after around 10KM but Alpecin-Deceuninck and Jayco AlUla missed it and started pulling in the peloton. It all came back together at 126KM to go and a counter attack went immediately. Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quickstep, Jhonatan Narváez of Ineos, Quinten Hermans of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Pelayo Sánchez of Movistar, and Andrea Vendrame Decathlon AG2R all went together over the top of a small climb. Luke Plapp of Jayco AlUla was able to bridge up solo about 1 KM later to make six at the front. The peloton were still pushing hard, forcing the break to do the same. Narváez crashed on a tight right corner on the descent of the first climb but was up quickly and able to rejoin. Their lead had been trimmed to just 15 seconds however, with 106KM to go. Four more riders got in the break, joining the front at 95KM including, Jasper Stuyven and Edward Theuns of Lidl-Trek, Enzo Paleni of Groupama-FDJ, and Mattia Bais of Polti-Kometa. Alessandro De Marchi of Jayco AlUla, Jan Tratnik and Tim van Dijke of Visma-Lease a Bike, Dries De Pooter of Intermarché-Wanty, Georg Steinhauser, Michael Valgren, and Mikkel Honoré of EF-Education EasyPost, Simone Velasco of Astana, and Manuele Tarozzi of Bardiani CSF-Faizanè. The peloton completely shut down, allowing the gap to balloon. The chase group of 10 joined at 81KM to go to make a front group of 19 at which point they had over 5 minutes. The break hit the Passo Duron at 56KM to go with an 8 minute lead. Alaphilippe attacked right at the bottom to trim the group, bringing Tarozzi, Narváez and Steinhauser. Tarozzi was distanced but Sánchez was able to get across with 2KM still to climb. Hermans got to the front group just before the top with Vendrame in shot, also getting on, on the descent. Six riders from the dropped group got organized and started to come back on the third category climb of Sella Valcalda. The group was a little dysfunctional so Alaphilippe attacked again to get a smaller group working. Steinhauser, Sánchez and Narváez went with him. Hermans and Vendrame got back, as did Plapp from the chase group. On the descent, Vendrame attacked, Hermans was dropped, leaving five chasing. Vendrame got a gap of 30 seconds, giving Hermans the opportunity to get back into the first chase group. When Vendrame hit the final climb of Cima Sappada, he had 1 minute. Steinhauser and Sánchez were the strongest of the chasers but they would not catch Vendrame. Vendrame crossed the line first for his second win at the Giro over the years. Sánchez came in next with Steinhauser in third place. In the GC group, a few attacks came to nothing. At 6KM to go, Geraint Thomas of Ineos looked behind him and moved slightly left. A rider in front moved right, catching Thomas's wheel and taking him down. He got back up quickly with a new bike and was back in the group shortly after. They rolled in together, 15 minutes behind Vendrame.