Stage 19

The road

At the start

The Finestre, and Yates on 28 seconds

Prato Nevoso cut Simon Yates's lead over Tom Dumoulin from 56 seconds to 28, with Pozzovivo at 2:43 and Chris Froome at 3:22. Today is the queen stage: 186 kilometres, 5,200 metres of climbing, and the Colle delle Finestre, whose last eight kilometres are gravel and whose summit at 2,178 metres is the Cima Coppi. Then a descent, a valley, and the climb to Bardonecchia.

How it was won

1. 1136 km to go

   A furious start

   The road pitches up from the gun and, after waves of attacks, a nine-man break sticks briefly in the valley on one of the most sensational days in Grand Tour history.

2. 275 km to go

   Froome attacks on the Finestre

   On the gravel of the Colle delle Finestre, Elissonde detonates the group and Froome flies off his wheel — attacking with eighty kilometres still to race and cresting the Cima Coppi alone, in a raid nobody believes can succeed. This is no testing of the water: Froome is going for the Giro.

3. 351 km to go

   Alone off the Finestre

   Froome descends the treacherous, wet Finestre and then Sestrière nearly a minute quicker than his pursuers, his lead yawning open as the impossible starts to look real.

4. 421 km to go

   The lead grows on the valley roads

   Even on 15km of false-flat highway — terrain that should favour the chase — Froome, dousing himself with water, pushes his advantage over Dumoulin past three minutes.

5. 52 km to go

   Holding on up the Jafferau

   The steep Jafferau is the sting in the tail, but despite big accelerations from the chase group Froome rallies and holds more than three minutes to the top.

6. 6At the line

   Froome seizes the maglia rosa

   Froome soloes into Bardonecchia to take the pink jersey and a 40-second overall lead — an 80km solo that will be remembered as one of the great Grand Tour rides.

The result