Three years after his final skilled win, Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) soloed out of the breakaway and onto victory on stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia.
The Italian attacked from a seven-rider group with 30km to go en path to Sappada. He then grew out his benefit to over a minute on the ultimate categorised climb, holding off Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar) and Georg Steinhauser (EF Schooling-EasyPost) in pursuit.
Vendrame’s victory added one more success to Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s tally this season, following on from Valentin Paret-Peintre’s stage win earlier within the race. The French squad now counts 22 victories in 2024, in comparison with 9 throughout all of final 12 months.
“It is a good day at the moment,” the 29-year-old stage winner stated afterwards. “The necessary factor was to get within the breakaway. I used to be there proper from the beginning.”
Vendrame’s assault got here on a descent, because the rain began to pour within the Dolomites. “I assumed that someone was going to come back again,” he stated, “however I attempted to maintain a excessive rhythm, a daily rhythm. They sorted me very properly from the automotive and it was excellent.
“There’s one other stage to come back tomorrow within the mountains. We all know that Pogi [Tadej Pogačar] is actually robust. We’re right here with O’Connor for the GC, we have received two levels, and we have got nothing to lose in any respect. We’ll give it a attempt tomorrow.”
Race chief Pogačar (UAE Group Emirates) rolled throughout the end line nearly 16 minutes after Vendrame, alongside his fellow GC contenders.
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There was a late scare for Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), who crashed after clipping one other rider’s rear wheel with 6km to go. The Welshman was in a position to remount and rejoin the pack shortly afterwards, ending on the identical time.
The way it occurred
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
The profile of stage 19 performed into the fingers of a breakaway, but it surely took some time for a entrance group to kind.
A chaotic begin meant the primary 70km of the stage, out of Mortegliano, have been raced at over 50km/h, and it wasn’t till simply earlier than the midway level that the peloton lastly let a breakaway free. Nineteen riders grouped on the entrance of the race, amongst them have been stage winners Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadeirs), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Fast-Step), Steinhauser and Sánchez.
With 50km to go, over the ten% gradient of the quick Passo Duron, these 4 riders wriggled clear. They have been quickly joined by Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Vendrame, who added additional horsepower to the transfer.
The main seven did not keep collectively for lengthy. With 30km to go, Vendrame launched what gave the impression to be a doomed assault. His hole initially teetered across the 10-second mark, earlier than slowly ballooning out. By the point he was on the ultimate categorised climb, the Italian had a minute underneath his belt, and a dogged grimace on his face.
Steinhauser and Sánchez made efforts to bridge throughout, however the duo may solely hack again a handful of seconds.
“They referred to as me a joker,” Vendrame stated in his post-race interview. However ultimately, it was he who had the final chuckle.
Outcomes
Giro d’Italia 2024, stage 19: Mortegliano > Sappada (157km)
1. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, in 3:51:05
2. Pelayo Sánchez (Esp) Movistar, +54s
3. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Schooling-EasyPost, +1:07
4. Jhonatan Narváez (European) Ineos Grenadiers, +2:27
5. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco AlUla, at identical time
6. Simone Velasco (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan, +2:30
7. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Visma-Lease a Bike
8. Michael Valgren (Den) EF Schooling-EasyPost, each at identical time
9. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Soudal Fast-Step, +2:32
10. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +3:52
Normal classification after stage 19
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Group Emirates, in 71:24:03
2. Dani Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, +7:42
3. Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, +8:04
4. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +9:47
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +10:29
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +11:10
7. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +12:42
8. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +13:33
9. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco-AIUla, +13:52
10. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Fast-Step, +14:44
