Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) rode solo into Champoluc to win Stage 19 of the 2025 Giro d’Italia. Behind him, it was a 2-up sprint between maglia rosa Isaac Del Toro and Richard Carapaz.
With their push, Del Toro and Carapaz gained 24 seconds over the rest of the GC contenders.
Today’s stage was a true mountain challenge with five categorized climbs (3 Cat.1s) and 4,950 meters of elevation gain before the finish in Champoluc. 161 riders made the start today as the race entered its final weekend. Isaac Del Toro made the start wearing the Maglia Rosa for the tenth time. Could he hold on to it through Sunday?
As we pick up coverage this morning there is another large break today. Stage 18 winner Nico Denzis in there along with Gianni Moscon (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Antonio Tiberi, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Sylvain Moniquet, Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Stan Dewulf, Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), David Gaudu, Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ), Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers), Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech), Patrick Konrad, Jacopo Mosca, Mads Pedersen, Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek), Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar), Mark Donovan, Milan Vader (Q36.5), Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla), Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL), Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep), Wout Van Aert, Edoardo Affini, Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Marco Brenner (Tudor), Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Martin Marcellusi, Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana).
With 71km remaining, the break was sitting 3’12” clear of the maglia rosa group. There was about 14km to the summit of the Col Saint Pantaleon.
This was no small climb and the breakaway was starting to split on the early ramps of the mountain. Marcellusi and Harper were accelerating while Gaudu, Konrad and Cepeda were also in trouble.
Verona attacked with 13 km to the summit, The Spaniard, winner of Stage 15 in Asiago, had just collected supplies from the team car. He is followed by Germani, Bilbao, Steinhauser, Arrieta, and Lemmen. Behind them, Harper is chasing hard.
Around twenty riders remained in the lead group with their advantage down to just 2’50”.
With 62km remaining, the lead group was down to eight men: They are: Tiberi, Bilbao, Prodhomme, Steinhauser, Meintjes, Verona, Lemmen and Arrieta.
On the descent of Pantaleon, a group of four riders has gotten away, opening a small gap over the rest of the break. Prodhomme, Verona, Tiberi, and Arrieta have an 13-second gap over Meintjes, Bilbao, and Lemmen, and 2’38” over the Maglia Rosa group with 40km remaining.
35km remaining and the leaders have opened their gap to 53 seconds over the rest of the break, while the maglia rosa group had fallen to 3’21” back.
Arrieta fell out of the lead quartet. Back in the peloton, it was Visma at the front with Wilco Kelderman leading the pace.
With just under 30km remaining, the breakaway was all back together with a gap of 1’33” to the maglia rosa group.
Halfway up the Col de Joux climb, Prodhomme went on the attack. He had 7.5km to get over the summit before the descent and final climb into Champoluc.
The gap to the maglia rosa group continued to winnow, down now to 1’08” with 25km to go. Attacks off the front of the gruppo had started to pop, with Rafal Majka and Richard Carapaz testing the rest of the G.C. group.
Prodhomme was the first over the Col de Joux. With 20km remaining, the gap to the peloton was down to 52 seconds.
The remnants of the break were captured and Prodhomme continued to push on alone. With 12.5km to go, he had opened his advantage to 1’24”
With just under 7km remaining, it was increasingly looking like Prodhomme could stay away. Back in the maglia rosa group, Carapaz went on the attack and Del Toro was the only one that could follow. Pellizzari tried and Gee as well, but they didn’t have the legs or were saving it for later. Simon Yates was struggling to hold on.
Prodhomme crossed the line alone with Del Toro and Carapaz left to fight it out for the rest of the podium.
Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the stage winner Nicolas Prodhomme said: “I’ve worked a lot for this Giro d’Italia. I didn’t want to compete for the GC, I wanted to try and win a stage. I’ve waited for long for this win to come. I won my first race three weeks ago. But to win in the WorldTour at the Giro d’Italia makes me very happy. It’s a beautiful day. Our breakaway didn’t have a big gap. I didn’t feel great when I followed the first attacks. My legs were stiff on the first climb. Kilometre after kilometre I felt better on the bike. On col de Joux, I realised that I needed to take risks otherwise we were going nowhere. I’ve come fifth on two stages because I didn’t risk anything. Today I decided to play for winning. The outcomes is very nice for me”.
2025 Giro d’Italia: Stage 19 Brief Results
- Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) in 4h50’35”
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +58″
- Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) s.t.
- Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) +1’22”
- Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t.
- Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) s.t.
- Simon Yates (Visma | Lease a Bike) s.t.
- Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t.
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) s.t.
- Einer Rubio (Movistar) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 19
In a performance that underscored both his strength and tactical maturity, Del Toro secured second place in today’s mountainous stage 19 to tighten his grip on the overall lead and reinforcing his status as the man to beat with just two stages remaining.
The 20-year-old Mexican phenomenon crossed the line just seconds behind stage winner Prodhomme (Decathlon-AG2R) after a grueling day in the Dolomites, extending his advantage over key GC rivals on terrain that has historically defined the Giro. With the maglia rosa still firmly on his shoulders, Del Toro faces one final major test tomorrow on the stage from Verrès to Sestrière (205km) which tackles the gruelling Colle delle Finestre.
- Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
- Richard Carapaz (EF Education – EasyPost) at 43″
- Simon Yates (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) at 1’21”
- Derek Gee (Israel – Premier Tech) at 2’27”
- Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) at 3’36”
Speaking in the press conference, the Maglia Rosa Isaac Del Toro said: “In first place I was surprised not to see more attacks but I understood the wind was making them difficult from far out. It was sometimes head wind, sometimes tailwind. There’s also the damage in the legs from the whole day and the past few weeks. It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve again delivered a good performance. What my team-mates did for me is incredible. Visma probably wanted to make me suffer and crack again, like on stage 16, the same goes with EF with the rider they had in the breakaway [Georg Steinhauser]. I’m glad I was able to be up there. Tomorrow I expect the same as today. For sure some teams will try to attack, we have to stay together and attentive. It would be magical for me to still lead the Giro tomorrow evening after Colle delle Finestre”.
Fortunato Locks up KOM
Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) will move into the Maglia Azzurra. After the Col Saint-Pantaléon (1st cat.), there are only 138 points remaining to be awarded. With 154 points separating the Italian from his teammate Christian Scaroni, he will secure the King of the Mountains title as long as he reaches the final finish in Rome without penalties between now and Sunday.
Official Jerseys
- Maglia Rosa, leader of the General Classification, sponsored by IUMAN – Intimissimi Uomo – Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
- Maglia Ciclamino, leader of the Points Classification, in collaboration with Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale and ITA Italian Trade Agency – Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
- Maglia Azzurra, leader of the Gran Premio della Montagna (KOM), sponsored by Banca Mediolanum – Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team)
- Maglia Bianca, Best Young Rider, born after 01/01/2000, sponsored by Conad -Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG) – worn by Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
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