Santiago Buitrago, Colombian of Bahrain Victorious, wins the 19th stage of the Giro d'Italia between Longarone and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Geraint Thomas remains in the pink jersey but Primož Roglič gains three seconds over the Welshman.
The stage
The 19th stage between Longarone and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, run under torrential rain, begins with two men on the attack, Lawrence Warbasse and Veljko Stojnic. From the 38th kilometre Alex Baudin and Derek Gee join Warbasse and Stojnic in the lead. Shortly after, Magnus Cort, of EF, joins the four of the leading group. From the 50th kilometer onwards there are nine men in command: in fact, Prodhomme, Pronskiy, Konrad and Gabburo have also joined.
Meanwhile, other men in the group join the breakaway riders, who become 15: Alex Baudin, Nicolas Prodhomme, Larry Warbasse (AG2R Citroën), Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Vadim Pronskiy (Astana Qazaqstan), Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe), Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education-EasyPost), Davide Gabburo (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech), Veljko Stojnic (Team Corratec-Selle Italia), Michael Hepburn (Jayco AlUla), Carlos Verona, José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar) and Mattia Bais (Eolo-Kometa).
At the 102nd kilometer from the leading group comes away Stojnic, who together with Warbasse had been the first to break away at the beginning of the stage. On the climb of Giau there are five riders in the lead: Santiago Buitrago, Derek Gee, Carlos Verona, Magnus Cort and Michael Hepburn. At the 155th kilometer, taking advantage of the descent, Warbasse, Oldani, Konrad and Gabburo also reach the fugitives. At the 169th kilometer, 12 kilometers from the end, at the head of the race there are Buitrago, Cort, Gee and Hepburn, with 5'20" of gap from the group. At 9.2 kilometers from the finish the fugitives are joined by a group of runners who have broken away from the group.