Geraint Thomas maintained his bid to develop into the oldest Giro d’Italia champion though his lead was minimize barely by Primoz Roglic throughout the hardest stage of the race on Friday.
Roglic crossed the summit end of the so-called “Queen Stage” three seconds forward of Thomas at the finish of the race’s ultimate mountain highway leg.
There have been no flat sections and 5 powerful, categorised climbs on the 183-kilometer route from Longarone to the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, which had gradients of as much as 18%.
The nineteenth stage was gained by Santiago Buitrago, who completed 51 seconds forward of Derek Gee and 1 minute 46 seconds forward of Magnus Cort and Roglic, who simply missed out on bonus seconds.
“I’m really happy with this victory. It was the most difficult moment of a difficult Giro for me personally,” stated Buitrago. “I needed to try to elevate my arms earlier than the finish and coming right here at Tre Cime di Lavaredo is wonderful.
“This is the recompense for all the work that I’ve done. … There’s a lot of motivation for me and the whole team having seen the fruits of our labors.”
Thomas is 26 seconds forward of Roglic going into what will likely be a decisive penultimate stage on Saturday. Third-placed Joao Almeida misplaced extra time and was 59 seconds behind Thomas.
Roglic modified his bicycle shortly earlier than the begin of the penultimate climb and he made his transfer inside the ultimate kilometer. However, Thomas was capable of persist with his wheel and the British bicycle owner made his personal assault in the ultimate 500 meters and appeared to have barely distanced his rival. But Roglic got here back and gained what may very well be a important few seconds.
The winner will seemingly be determined in Saturday’s mountain time trial that ends in a demanding climb up Monte Lussari, with an elevation of over 1,000 meters and gradients of as much as 22%.
“Tomorrow we go full again,” Roglic stated. “It’s good. We got a bit of legs back, so tomorrow we go full, eh? If I wouldn’t be confident then I don’t start. The best one at the end wins.”
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