Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali won stage 19 of the 2016 Giro d’Italia on Friday, but Esteban Chaves’s third-place finish saw him take the pink jersey from Steven Kruijswijk, who crashed on the treacherous Colle dell’Agnello.
Kruijswijk started the 162km stage with a three-minute lead over Chaves but ploughed into a snow bank while descending the Colle dell’Agnello, the highest point of this year’s Giro, and dropped to third on the GC with two days to go.
Nibali, the Italian national champions, is in second place on the GC, 44 seconds behind the leader, after holding off Chaves’s challenge on the last climb to Risoul.
LottoNL-Jumbo’s Kruijswijk, who needed to change bikes after crashing, was clearly struggling on the final climb and finished 1:05 behind Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge).
Kruijswijk was not the only rider who fell victim to the Colle dell’Agnello on Friday. Minutes after his crash, footage emerged of Katusha’s Ilnur Zakarin, who was fifth on the GC before the stage began, lying in a heap on the side of the road.
The Russian’s race ended with him being taken to hospital with a suspected broken collarbone.
An emotional Nibali, the home favourite, burst into tears after his first Giro stage win of this year’s race. (From Reuters: Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru, editing by Larry King)
Stage 19 Brief Results:
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) 4:19:54″
- Mikel Nieve (Spain / Team Sky) +51″
- Esteban Chaves (Colombia / Orica) +53″
- Diego Ulissi (Italy / Lampre) +1:02″
- Rafal Majka (Poland / Tinkoff) +2:14″
- Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar)
- Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Cannondale)
- Georg Preidler (Austria / Giant) +2:43″
- Nicolas Roche (Ireland / Team Sky) +2:51″
- Hubert Dupont (France / AG2R)
General Classification After Stage 19:
- Esteban Chaves (Colombia / Orica) 78:14:20″
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) +44″
- Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands / LottoNL) +1:05″
- Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +1:48″
- Rafal Majka (Poland / Tinkoff) +3:59″
- Bob Jungels (Luxembourg / Etixx – Quick-Step) +7:53″
- Andrey Amador (Costa Rica / Movistar) +9:34″
- Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Cannondale) +12:18″
- Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus / Dimension Data) +13:19″
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy / AG2R) +14:11″
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