Simon Yates claws back time with victory on Giro’s Alpe di Mera summit finish

Simon Yates triumphed on the 19th stage of the Giro d’Italia, pulling back 34 seconds on pink jersey Egan Bernal with two stages to go. It was his fourth Giro stage victory. Bernal slightly padded his lead over second-place Damiano Caruso by coming third. Yates is now 20 seconds in arrears of Caruso in the GC and still +2:49 of Bernal.

The Course

The route had been changed, with an early climb near the site of last week’s Mottarone cable car disaster that killed 14 people pulled from the course. This left the 19th stage at 166 km. Friday’s third from last stage had a Cat. 4 and Cat. 3 climb as hors d’oeuvres for the Alpe di Mera summit finish, a 9.7-km, 9 percent ascent. The riders were spared inclement weather.

Back in the mountains at the #Giro.
Alpe di Mera (9.7km, 9%) is another beast that will seriously test the GC contenders. pic.twitter.com/xHWbFSSS1O

— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) May 28, 2021

The size of Friday’s breakaway–a sextet–revealed that it didn’t really believe in its chances. Ineos, BikeExchange and Deceuninck-Quick Step all toiled at the front of the peloton.

Deceuninck-Quick Step’s pace was infernal heading towards the Cat. 4, splitting the peloton and putting several Ineos riders, including seventh place Dani Martinez, out the back. Filippo Ganna dropped back to sew things up.

By the crest of the Cat. 4 Passo della Colma, the breakaway was a quintet with a 1:20 lead.

?️ Alpe di Mera is coming!

?️ Arriva l'Alpe di Mera!#Giro pic.twitter.com/3rEM2yJ7sl

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 28, 2021

The breakaway was absorbed at the foot of the climb, Deceuninck-Quick Step continuing to pour on the coals. The pink jersey group had been streamlined all day by the action.

Once his teammate James Knox was finished at the pointy end of the race, João Almeida made a move. With 6.4 km to climb Yates bridged over with George Bennett, Alexandr Vlasov and Caruso. Bernal’s teammates chased.

Yates pushed away from the others and lit out for glory.

#Giro ??@SimonYatess goes again and the gap to the Maglia Rosa increases. 22 seconds with 5km to go.

Go Yatesy! pic.twitter.com/xFWMUdfp5b

— Team BikeExchange (@GreenEDGEteam) May 28, 2021

Martinez brought Bernal back up to Caruso, Vlasov and Almeida. For a few kilometres, Yates’ gap kept at 30 seconds, but it began to drop. After Martinez swung off, Bernal dropped Caruso, Almeida coming along for the ride.

At the red kite, Yates was only 16 seconds ahead. Almeida dropped Bernal in the last kilometre and finished 11 seconds after Yates. Bernal broke the line 28 seconds after Yates.

Saturday is the final GC road stage, 164 km with three Cat. 1 ascents in the latter half of the day including the race’s last summit finish.

2021 Giro d’Italia Stage 19
1) Simon Yates (Great Britain/BikeExchange) 4:54:38
2) João Almeida (Portugal/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +0:11
3) Egan Bernal (Colombia/Ineos Grenadiers) +0:28

2021 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Egan Bernal (Colombia/Ineos Grenadiers) 81:13:37
2) Damiano Caruso (Italy/Bahrain-Merida) +2:29
3) Simon Yates (Great Britain/BikeExchange) +2:49
4) Alexandr Vlasov (Russia/Astana-Premier Tech) +6:11
5) Hugh Carthy (Great Britain/EF Education-Nippo) +7:10