Mauro Schmid came close to celebrating a second victory in the Giro, following his success last year, by taking 2nd place in the 19th stage. The Zurich native was only beaten in the sprint by Koen Bouwman. Richard Carapaz retained the leader’s pink jersey two days before the final time trial in Verona.
The Dutchman won at the Castelmonte sanctuary near Cividale in Friuli. He was ahead of his 4 breakaway companions in a final collision due to a “straight” for 2 riders (Vendrame, Valter) in the last corner. Bouwman, who secured his best climber’s jersey, overtook Mauro Schmid (22 years old / Quick-Step) and the Italian Alessandro Tonelli at the end of the 178 km.
The breakaway, 12 riders strong, tackled the main climb of the day, the Kolovrat, with more than 9 minutes ahead of the peloton. The 4 survivors (Bouwman, Schmid, Tonelli, Valter) only lost a little over a minute on this climb near Caporetto.
Second success for Bouwman
The advantage grew when Australian Jai Hindley’s Bora team stopped leading, but narrowed on the final climb. Carapaz started several times without managing to get Hindley. The Spaniard Mikel Landa, 3rd in the standings, also tried without more success. Bouwman, 28, won for the second time in this Giro following his success at Potenza in the 7th stage.
Saturday, the 20th stage, the last mountain, includes 3 great climbs of the Dolomites with 3 historic passes: the San Pellegrino, the Pordoi for the highest point reached by this edition at 2,239 meters above sea level and the Fedaia in conclusion.
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