Simon Yates has won Giro d'Italia stage 19. Bernal retains the Maglia Rosa

Simon Yates has won Giro d’Italia stage 19. Bernal retains the Maglia Rosa

Simon Yates has won Giro d'Italia stage 19!

Simon Yates countered an attack by Joao Almeida with 6.5km to go to take a solo win atop Alpe di Mera with the Portuguese crossing the line 11 seconds behind in second position. Third on the day, Egan Bernal showed little sign of weakness and remained comfortably in the lead of the overall rankings.

STAGE RESULTS

1 – Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) – 166km in 4h02’55”, average speed 41.002 km/h

2 – João Almeida (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) at 11”

3 – Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) at 28″

4 – Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) at 32″

5 – Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana – Premier Tech) s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1 – Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)

2 – Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) at 2’29”

3 – Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) at 2’49”

4 – Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana – Premier Tech) at 6’11”

5 – Hugh Carthy (EF Education – Nippo) at 7’10”

JERSEYS

Maglia Rosa (pink), general classification leader, sponsored by Enel – Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)

Maglia Ciclamino (cyclamen), sprinter classification leader, sponsored by Segafredo Zanetti – Peter Sagan (Bora – Hansgrohe)

Maglia Azzurra (blue), King of the Mountains classification leader, sponsored by Banca Mediolanum – Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroen Team)

Maglia Bianca (white), young rider general classification leader, sponsored by Intimissimi Uomo – Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), worn by Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana – Premier Tech)

Data collected by Velon’s devices on the riders’ bikes tells the story of key moments of the stage. A graphic with today’s data can be found here.

Simon Yates took his fourth stage win of the Giro d’Italia today. It’s his first win taken while not wearing the Maglia Rosa after three stage victories in 2018 at Gran Sasso, Osimo and Sappada.

11th Maglia Rosa for Egan Bernal, just as many as previous Giro d’Italia overall winners Ivan Gotti, Damiano Cunego and Denis Menchov.

Simon Yates is currently third overall, just like his compatriot Tao Geoghegan Hart after Stage 19 last year. The Englishman ended up winning the Giro.

Quotes from Egan Bernal and Simon Yates

Speaking at the press conference, the stage winner Simon Yates said: “I’m really happy. The team did a fantastic job today. We controlled the start, rode well behind and then I finished it off. I saw the boys from Ineos were just happy to ride at tempo behind so I had a feeling they would let me go today. It was not the most difficult stage. It’ll be different tomorrow at a higher altitude. I don’t have any regrets for the way I rode on the first week, I had some little problems and I think I managed everything the best I could. The gap to the Maglia Rosa is still quite important but I am closer to Caruso now who is in second place.”

Maglia Rosa Egan Bernal said: “For me, the most important thing is to have the Maglia Rosa in Milan. When I have the legs, I like to attack. But now there’s one rider stronger than me and it’s Simon Yates. I want to keep the time I gained earlier in the Giro because that’s the fruits of great team work so I don’t want to make any mistakes that could ruin everything. Today I took one step further towards that final win. It was an important day for us after what happened two days ago. Now I’m confident ahead of tomorrow’s stage, which I’ll enjoy riding at a higher altitude. I want to arrive at the ITT with some extra energy.”

Today, the CEO of RCS Sport, Paolo Bellino, the Director of the Giro d’Italia, Mauro Vegni, and the Director of the Giro-E, Roberto Salvador, together with the Mayor of Stresa, Marcella Severino, laid a wreath at the base of the Stresa-Mottarone cable car, to remember those who died in the tragedy.