2019 Giro d'Italia Stage 20 Results & Recap
Stage 20 of the 2019 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Pello Bilbao claimed his second win for the Astana team today on the queen stage of the Giro D’Italia. The 29-year-old Spaniard out kicked Mikel Landa (Movistar) and mountains leader Giulio Ciccone after spending the day in the early breakaway.
“I was up the road to help Miguel Angel Lopez later,” Bilbao said in the press conference. “We wanted him to be on the final podium. With 50km to go, I started thinking of the stage win as it would be difficult for the peloton to come across. Towards the end, I thought I’d be faster than the climbers and I knew that Carapaz would work for Mikel Landa to win the stage. When such an opportunity to win a stage occurs, it’s worth trying.”
Richard Carapaz (Movistar) switched to the role of a super domestique on the penultimate stage to help his teammate, Landa, score that elusive stage win. Despite setting a crushing pace on the last two climbs and catching the early break with four km to go, Carapaz couldn’t shake Nibali, Bilbao or Ciccone. However, the pink jersey did drop his GC rival, Primoz Roglic, who slipped out a podium spot after losing time on the last climb, as well as being slapped with a 10 second penalty for allowing a push from a fan.
“I’m super happy with the work of the team,” Carapaz said in the press conference. “Tomorrow, it’ll be mano-a-mano. Nibali’s hug at the finish today was a very beautiful gesture. I’ve seen him very strong today but Mikel [Landa] and I were strong too. I knew Mikel was able to make the final podium, that’s why we dropped Roglic. The other thing we could achieve was the stage win with Mikel. It’s been close.”
Landa is in third overall, 23 seconds ahead of Roglic, which will likely be overturned in tomorrow’s time trial.
It wasn’t just Roglic who encountered a frenzied fan on the way to Croce d’Aune – Monte Avena, Miguel Angel Lopez was taken down by a spectator and was visibly angered by the incident, which cost him 1:49 on GC.
Despite the amount of climbing ahead, the race started out aggressively with attacks all the way up the Cima Campo. A group of 12 made the selection: Bilbao, Andrey Amador (Movistar), Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida), Dario Cataldo (Astana), Tanel Kangert (EF Education First), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Dimension Data), Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb), Eddie Dunbar (Team Ineos), Eros Capecchi (Deceuninck-Quick Step) and Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott).
Masnada took off at the start of the Cima Coppi climb – the Passo Manghen – and took the intermediate sprint and the Cima Coppi prize.
The GC group caught on the back of the breakaway on the backside of Manghen. The race situation reformed and a new five riders made the front group: Bilbao, Masnada, Kangert, Ghebreigzabhier and Dunbar. Ciccone and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) bridged on the next climb, the Passo Rolle and things calmed down again. Movistar took to the front of the GC group and allowed a 2 and a half minute advantage.
On the final two climbs, Lopez put in two attacks and was quickly marked by Carapaz, Landa and Nibali. It was the attack by Landa that cracked Roglic, who was left fighting to minimize his losses while Carapaz, Nibali and Landa took off, catching Bilbao and Ciccone, to duke it out for the stage honors. \n
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