Stage 19

The road

How it was won

1. 1115 km to go

   Straight into the Col de Vars

   The last mountain stage opens uphill and the break is settled early, Denifl taking maximum points at the top with Nieve on his wheel — and Cunego, back in the bunch, watching his mountains jersey slip away.

2. 271 km to go

   Nieve takes the Bonette

   Mikel Nieve attacks the moment the road tilts and climbs the twenty-kilometre monster alone, cresting first at 2,715 metres to put the mountains classification beyond doubt.

3. 315 km to go

   Nibali surges on a hairpin

   Scarponi does a mammoth turn on the Lombarda and gets the signal five kilometres from the summit. Nibali jumps on a hairpin and only Valverde and Chaves can go with him — and not for long. Chaves toils, finds Urán to lead him, and still cannot hold the wheel.

4. 413 km to go

   Taaramäe's searing kick

   Three kilometres from the top of the Lombarda, Rein Taaramäe produces a long, extended acceleration out of the break that nobody can answer — the stage-winning move, dedicated to his stricken teammate Zakarin.

5. 510 km to go

   Fifty-five seconds at the summit

   Nibali needed 45 and crests with 55, linking up with Kangert. Behind him the maglia rosa is unravelling, and only a gnarly descent and one short, steep ramp stand between the Sicilian and the Giro.

6. 6At the line

   Nibali takes pink at Sant'Anna

   Taaramäe holds on to win the stage; behind him Vincenzo Nibali rides into the maglia rosa on the penultimate day, completing one of the most remarkable comebacks the sport has seen — and one of the cruellest reversals for Esteban Chaves.

The result