Stage 19

The road

At the start

Into Slovenia, over the Kolovrat

Three seconds still separate Richard Carapaz and Jai Hindley, with Mikel Landa at 1:05 and nobody else within five minutes. Two days remain and only today has mountains in it. The race crosses into Slovenia for the Kolovrat, then drops back into Italy and climbs to the sanctuary at Castelmonte. Koen Bouwman has the blue jersey, and this is the day he can put it beyond reach.

How it was won

1. 144 km to go

   Bouwman seals the blue jersey in Slovenia

   The race crosses the border for thirty-five kilometres and the day's hardest climb. Bouwman moves ahead with Valter, Schmid and Tonelli through dense lines of Slovenian fans and sprints over the summit to take mathematical control of the mountains classification. On the technical descent Vendrame comes searing past the quartet and back into the game.

2. 210 km to go

   Five onto the final climb

   An unspoken truce carries the five back into Italy and onto the Santuario di Castelmonte with the peloton nowhere. Behind, Tulett and Sivakov are laying down a ferocious pace for Carapaz.

3. 34 km to go

   Carapaz swings, and misses

   Halfway up the climb the maglia rosa launches his one full-blooded attack. Hindley parries it comfortably and Landa does too, even branching out briefly on his own. The three reach the line together and the three-second gap between Hindley and Carapaz stands with two days left.

4. 4At the line

   A badly placed corner decides it

   Inside the final hundred metres a sharp left-hander arrives with the five winding up. Bouwman goes through first, brakes hard, takes the inside and wins. Behind him Vendrame — nominally the fastest — skids off course entirely and Schmid crosses waving his arms in fury.

The result