On Friday’s Stage 19 queen stage through the Dolomites, Sepp Kuss was let off the leash. The 31-year-old American delivered, hunting down Giulio Ciccone on the final climb to Piani di Pezzè to secure his first career Giro stage win and complete his Grand Tour trilogy.
The 151-kilometer route from Feltre to Alleghe was a 5,000-meters of elevation featuring the Passo Giau and Passo Falzarego. Kuss infiltrated the day’s 26-man breakaway and sat quietly.
Over the penultimate climb of the Falzarego, Lidl-Trek’s Giulio Ciccone launched an attack that carved out a gap of over a minute. Kuss later admitted he thought the stage was gone by the time the break hit the base of the final ascent to Piani di Pezzè, with gradients spiking to 20%. Yet Kuss rode to his rhythm and blowed past the Italian in the closing kilometers to cross the line solo.
Behind the breakaway, Felix Gall tried to launch a late attack, but Jonas Vingegaard matched every pedal stroke. The Dane crossed the line in fifth alongside Gall and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Jai Hindley. The only real casualty among the top contenders was Netcompany Ineos’ Thymen Arensman, who bled time on the final climb and tumbled off the provisional podium, allowing Hindley to slide into third overall.
With a four-minute cushion over Gall in the overall standings, Vingegaard’s victory is a foregone conclusion. And Visma has now won every single mountain-top finish of this year’s Giro. Impressive work.
Results
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