Giro d’Italia 2020 – Stage 19 [FULL STAGE] (stage for whimps cyclists)

October 23, 2020

Giro d’Italia 2020 – Stage 19 – Abbiategrasso – Asti : 127 km

The Giro d’Italia is traditionally the first Grand Tour of the season, bringing in the summer of stage racing after the Classics, as the snow melts in the mountains and the poppies flower along the Italian roadside. This year, after the COVID-19 lockdown and the massively rescheduled season, the Giro d’Italia comes after the Tour de France and overlaps with the Ardennes and cobbled Classics and even the Vuelta a España. Any snow will be fresh like the autumnal temperatures, but the racing should again be spectacular with Italy offering a different but still unique and beautiful backdrop for the race. The loss of the Hungarian Grande Partenza means the 103rd edition of the Corsa Rosa will be an all-Italian race, with only a brief visit to France during stage 20 to climb the Col d’Izoard. The racing starts in Palermo on Saturday October 3 with a 15.1km time trial from the hill-top village of Monreale and finishes in Milan on Sunday October 25 with a 15.7km time trial to the spectacular Duomo. Another time trial – 34.1km in the Prosecco vineyards above Conegliano – makes the 2020 race route good for time trialists, but over 40,000 metres of climbing across 50 classified climbs and five summit finishes gives the climbers ample opportunity to gain enough time before the decisive stage to Milan.

Josef Cerny (CCC) took a well-deserved win on stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia after attacking from the day’s main break with 21km to go. The CCC rider had been on the attack all day and he narrowly held off a late chase from Victor Campenaerts (NTT) to take the biggest win of his career, and provide CCC with a farewell victory before they leave the sport at the end of the season.

Campenaerts finished second on the stage with Jacopo Mosca (Trek-Segafredo) crossing the line in third place.

“We were standing in the start line and the organiser said we could shorten it a bit. It was very nice because we had the last three days really heavy and it was a hard day, especially with the rain. I’m really happy I was lucky in the breakaway. We were working together. In the final, it was just who had the better legs. I’m really happy. I still don’t believe it. It was so quick, it’s incredible. I can’t describe it,” Cerny said.

In the race for the maglia rosa, Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) maintained his slender 12 second lead over his teammate Jai Hindley, with Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) remaining a further three seconds down.

The win came after farcical scenes at the start of the race due to a dispute between the riders and the race organisers, RCS Sport. The peloton, exhausted from the race, the long transfers, and the early starts were uncomfortable with the notion of then tackling the longest stage of the Giro in poor conditions. Sections of the peloton raised their disapproval ahead of the 258km stage before it was due to leave Morbegno after the riders’ disquiet had increased when RCS announced on Thursday night that an additional 5km would need to be added to the route due to road closures.

At the start in Morbegno, the riders at the centre of the protest and the CPA, once more resisted but the stage rolled out before proceedings were halted after 8km, with the riders disappearing onto their team buses. The race was then relocated to Abbiategrasso and the route shortened to a more palatable 124km of racing but the ramifications of the riders’ actions will be felt all the way to Milan with race director Mauro Vegni and several team bosses voicing their displeasure at the riders’ actions. It seems, however, that while Friday’s weather conditions were not bad enough to trigger the UCI’s weather protocol measures, the overall fatigue, stress, incidents involving COVID-19, and ‘bubbles’ became too much.

How it unfolded

Once the stage started hostilities began almost immediately with Victor Campenaerts (NTT), Simon Pellaud (Androni), Josef Cerny (CCC) breaking clear at the start of the rescheduled and relocated stage. The trio built up a 20-second lead on a group containing Iljo Keisse (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Sander Armée (Lotto Soudal), Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani), Nathan Haas (Cofidis), Marco Mathis (Cofidis), Simon Clarke and Lachlan Morton (EF Pro Cycling), Alex Dowsett (Israel Start-Up Nation), Albert Torres (Movistar), Jacopo Mosca (Trek-Segafredo), and Etienne van Empel (Vini Zabu) before the two groups formed into one with 98km remaining.

Back in the peloton only Peter Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe team showed intent to chase down the break and they initially held the leaders at 30 seconds but as Sagan’s team ran out of motivation and the gap quickly expanded to over a minute, and with little help from the rest of the sprinters’ teams, the break’s advantage ballooned out to over six minutes with 45km to go.

With 31km to go Campenaerts attacked but he was quickly caught by Dowsett, and Mathis before the rest of the group made contact. Morton was the next rider to try his luck but the terrain and the conditions would always provide a disadvantage for the Australian and when he was caught Campenaerts once more forced a split a few kilometres with Cerny, Clarke, Pellaud, Armée, and Mosca making contact.

Pellaud would be distanced when Campenaerts stamped on the pedals once more but it was Cerny who created the most significant solo move with 22km to go as he opened up a 20-second gap. Keisse added some much-needed firepower to the group of Mosca, Campenaerts, Clarke, and Armée when the Belgian bridged over with 17km to go but the CCC rider put everything into his dash to the line with 40 seconds of an advantage at that point. Keisse could sense the danger and immediately moved to the front of the chase group, almost splitting it through his efforts, and the gap was down to 28 seconds with 9km to go.

The gap began to drop with each passing kilometre and with 4.4km to go Cerny’s advantage had dropped to just 21 seconds with the CCC rider’s shoulders beginning to rock but he held on to take the win and give CCC a welcome boost.

Results :
1 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team 2:30:40
2 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling 0:00:18
3 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:26
4 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Pro Cycling
5 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
6 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
7 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:10
8 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
9 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
10 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-Up Nation
11 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis 0:02:17
12 Etienne Van Empel (Ned) Vini Zabu’ KTM
13 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Pro Cycling 0:02:21
14 Marco Mathis (Ger) Cofidis 0:08:15
15 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:11:43
16 Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep
17 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
18 Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep
19 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren
20 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
21 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
22 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
23 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
24 Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team
25 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
26 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
27 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
28 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
29 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
30 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb
31 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain McLaren
32 Ben Swift (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
33 Matteo Sobrero (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
34 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren
35 Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
36 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep
37 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
38 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-Quickstep
39 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
40 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
41 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
42 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
43 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ
44 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
45 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
46 Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
47 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain McLaren
48 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
49 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team
50 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
51 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team
52 Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Astana Pro Team
53 Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis
54 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
55 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R la Mondiale
56 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
57 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb
58 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
59 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
60 Kamil Malecki (Pol) CCC Team
61 Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates
62 Jhonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
63 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
64 Attila Valter (Hun) CCC Team
65 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
66 Victor De la Parte (Spa) CCC Team
67 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation
68 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
69 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
70 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
71 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling
72 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
73 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
74 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ
75 Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal
76 Josip Rumac (Cro) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
77 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
78 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
79 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers
80 Fabio Mazzucco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
81 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team
82 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Pro Cycling
83 Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling
84 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
85 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
86 Mattia Bais (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
87 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R la Mondiale
88 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling
89 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
90 Louis Meintjes (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
91 Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-Quickstep
92 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis
93 Ben O’Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling
94 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
95 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
96 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers
97 Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
98 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
99 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale
100 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates
101 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-Up Nation
102 Filippo Zana (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
103 Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
104 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
105 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
106 Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes (Col) Movistar Team
107 Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) NTT Pro Cycling
108 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
109 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
110 Davide Villella (Ita) Movistar Team
111 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
112 Simone Ravanelli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
113 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Lotto Soudal
114 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Israel Start-Up Nation
115 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
116 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
117 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis
118 Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates
119 Jefferson Alexander Cepeda (Ecu) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
120 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
121 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
122 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) CCC Team
123 James Whelan (Aus) EF Pro Cycling
124 Francesco Romano (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
125 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis
126 Rodrigo Contreras Pinzon (Col) Astana Pro Team
127 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
128 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team
129 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Pro Cycling
130 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
131 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-Up Nation
132 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal
133 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 0:12:15

General Classification after Stage 19 :
1 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 80:29:19
2 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:12
3 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:15
4 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:01:19
5 Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:16
6 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:03:59
7 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:05:40
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:47
9 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:06:46
10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:07:28
11 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren 0:07:43
12 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:09:34
13 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team 0:26:12
14 Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates 0:33:12
15 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:34:49
16 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:40:59
17 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:41:11
18 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R la Mondiale 0:44:45
19 Ben Swift (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:49:11
20 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) CCC Team 0:51:18
21 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:53:45
22 Ben O’Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling 1:00:12
23 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 1:00:58
24 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers 1:05:03
25 Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team 1:16:58
26 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb 1:19:38
27 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 1:23:39
28 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 1:27:38
29 Attila Valter (Hun) CCC Team 1:27:47
30 Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 1:28:46
31 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 1:35:29
32 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 1:38:08
33 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling 1:46:23
34 Victor De la Parte (Spa) CCC Team 1:47:36
35 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 1:48:08
36 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 1:54:07
37 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Pro Cycling 1:55:43
38 Louis Meintjes (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling 1:57:13
39 Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Astana Pro Team 1:58:55
40 Davide Villella (Ita) Movistar Team 2:01:52
41 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 2:03:09
42 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 2:03:16
43 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 2:04:35
44 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bahrain McLaren 2:05:01
45 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 2:07:53
46 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Israel Start-Up Nation 2:09:33
47 Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates 2:09:54
48 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team 2:10:28
49 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 2:13:04
50 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis 2:13:59
51 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 2:23:06
52 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 2:26:26
53 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 2:29:28
54 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 2:33:05
55 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 2:34:50
56 Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) NTT Pro Cycling 2:36:36
57 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team 2:36:49
58 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R la Mondiale 2:37:33
59 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 2:41:23
60 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 2:46:38
61 Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes (Col) Movistar Team 2:47:48
62 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain McLaren 2:52:03
63 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis 2:52:23
64 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team 2:52:42
65 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 2:53:04
66 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 2:55:38
67 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 2:58:33
68 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 2:58:55
69 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 3:00:58
70 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale 3:05:46
71 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Pro Cycling 3:05:47
72 Simone Ravanelli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 3:08:54
73 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Pro Cycling 3:12:09
74 Kamil Malecki (Pol) CCC Team 3:15:49
75 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 3:16:30
76 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 3:18:35
77 Matteo Sobrero (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 3:21:36
78 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team 3:30:17
79 Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling 3:34:05
80 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb 3:34:17
81 Jefferson Alexander Cepeda (Ecu) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 3:34:28
82 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 3:34:39
83 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Bahrain McLaren 3:35:40
84 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 3:37:06
85 Etienne Van Empel (Ned) Vini Zabu’ KTM 3:38:03
86 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 3:40:32
87 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain McLaren 3:40:56
88 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 3:48:21
89 Francesco Romano (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 3:48:50
90 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 3:48:56
91 Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 3:49:46
92 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis 3:51:06
93 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling 3:52:26
94 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 3:53:33
95 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 3:54:16
96 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates 3:57:02
97 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal 3:58:00
98 Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal 3:59:32
99 Josip Rumac (Cro) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 3:59:53
100 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 4:10:00
101 Filippo Zana (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 4:15:24
102 Mattia Bais (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 4:19:48
103 Jhonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 4:20:47
104 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team 4:21:24
105 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team 4:21:34
106 James Whelan (Aus) EF Pro Cycling 4:28:55
107 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 4:29:10
108 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 4:30:15
109 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Pro Cycling 4:32:43
110 Rodrigo Contreras Pinzon (Col) Astana Pro Team 4:34:03
111 Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis 4:40:17
112 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 4:42:22
113 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis 4:42:26
114 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling 4:44:33
115 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis 4:45:09
116 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ 4:45:44
117 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-Up Nation 4:47:26
118 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 4:49:56
119 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-Up Nation 4:50:30
120 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 4:52:53
121 Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 4:53:05
122 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation 4:55:18
123 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ 4:59:21
124 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 5:00:11
125 Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 5:05:59
126 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-Up Nation 5:06:17
127 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ 5:08:30
128 Fabio Mazzucco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 5:09:59
129 Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 5:11:29
130 Marco Mathis (Ger) Cofidis 5:15:59
131 Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-Quickstep 5:18:01
132 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation 5:34:29
133 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Lotto Soudal 5:36:23