Chris Froome produced an astonishing lone attack to roar into the overall lead at the Giro d’Italia on Friday, winning stage 19 with a performance that will go down in cycling folklore.
The Team Sky rider started the 185-kilometre ride from Venaria Reale to Bardonecchia in fourth place in the general classification, but launched a devastating attack with 80km to go up the Colle delle Finestre to storm to a famous victory.
Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), who started the day three minutes 22 seconds ahead of Froome, ended the stage with his Giro hopes in tatters after blowing up.
Tom Dumoulin, the defending champion who had begun the day in second place, nearly three minutes ahead of Froome, was left trying to minimize the damage to the Briton on the final climb.
He finished fifth on the stage, three minutes and 22 seconds behind Froome who also took time bonuses.
Four-times Tour de France winner Froome is now perfectly poised to win the one Grand Tour missing from his collection headed into the final two days of racing.
“I don’t think I’ve ever attacked 80 kilometres from the finish, riding on my own and going all the way to the finish,” Froome said. “I knew there was a long way to go but to win this Giro d’Italia I had to do something extraordinary. I couldn’t wait for the last climb. I had to do something crazy.
“Colle delle Finestre was the perfect place to do it. Gravel roads remind me of Africa,” added Froome.
Giro d’Italia 2018 – stage 19 results (Venaria Reale – Bardonecchia):
| 1 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | 5:12:26 |
| 2 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | +03’00” |
| 3 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +03’07” |
| 4 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +03’12” |
| 5 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +03’23” |
| 6 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) | +06’13” |
| 7 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +08’22” |
| 8 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +08’23” |
| 9 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 10 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | ,, |
| 11 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | +08’29” |
| 12 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +08’38” |
| 13 | Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale) | +09’45” |
| 14 | Sergio Henao (Team Sky) | +11’09” |
| 15 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 16 | Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy) | +14’00” |
| 17 | Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) | +14’20” |
| 18 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | +14’38” |
| 19 | Jose Goncalves (Katusha-Alpecin) | +14’55” |
| 20 | Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +15’41” |
General classification after stage 19:
| 1 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | 80:21:59 |
| 2 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +40” |
| 3 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +04’17” |
| 4 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +04’57” |
| 5 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | +05’44” |
| 6 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | +08’03” |
| 7 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | +11’08” |
| 8 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +12’19” |
| 9 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +12’35” |
| 10 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +14’18” |
| 11 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +15’16” |
| 12 | Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale) | +16’29” |
| 13 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | +16’38” |
| 14 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +17’40” |
| 15 | Sergio Henao (Team Sky) | +26’02” |
| 16 | Jose Goncalves (Katusha-Alpecin) | +28’16” |
| 17 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) | +35’29” |
| 18 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +35’42” |
| 19 | Carlos Betancur (Movistar) | +40’47” |
| 20 | Georg Preidler (Groupama-FDJ) | +53’55” |
