Stage 19

The road

At the start

A mountain time trial up the Grappa

Twenty-seven kilometres, nineteen of them uphill at eight per cent, each man alone on Monte Grappa. Nairo Quintana starts last in pink with 1:41 on Rigoberto Urán, and behind them the podium is on a knife edge: Pierre Rolland, Fabio Aru and Rafał Majka are covered by two seconds. Nobody dares empty himself completely, because the Zoncolan comes tomorrow.

How it was won

1. 123 km to go

   The switchbacks begin

   Monte Grappa is a brutal thing to race alone: tight hairpins and constant changes of pitch, a climb designed so that nobody can ever settle into a rhythm.

2. 217 km to go

   Hesjedal's chain goes

   On a climb built to break rhythms, the worst thing that can happen to Ryder Hesjedal happens: his chain drops, then a bike change. The 2012 winner slides to ninth overall.

3. 38 km to go

   Aru smashes the time check

   Fabio Aru rips through the 19km check nearly a minute up on the best time and is first man under 1:06 at the top. For twenty minutes the stage looks like his.

4. 4At the line

   Quintana settles it on the Grappa

   Pink from head to toe, Quintana flies up the switchbacks of Monte Grappa in 1:05:37, seventeen seconds faster than Aru, and turns a slender advantage into 3:07. The Giro is effectively over.

The result