Isaac del Toro gains two seconds on Richard Carapaz, Simon Yates slips back as Giro d’Italia heads for Colle delle Finestre decider

The Giro d’Italia will be decided on the Colle delle Finestre on Saturday, with just 43 seconds separating Isaac del Toro in the pink jersey and former champion Richard Carapaz. Del Toro extended his lead in the general classification on Stage 19, albeit by only two seconds courtesy of time bonuses for placing second on Friday’s Stage 19. Nicolas Prodhomme took a maiden Grand Tour win.

Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) came through the penultimate mountain test of the Giro d’Italia with flying colours, soaring to second place ahead of his pink jersey rival Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) as Frenchman Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) bravely held on to win Stage 19 in Champoluc.

Just three weeks after notching the first win of his career in the Tour of the Alps, 28-year-old Prodhomme came of age in the brutal 166km stage through the sweltering Val d’Aosta in the Italian Alps – the last-man standing from an initial four-man move that grew in numbers before being picked off, one by one, by the GC riders behind.

After trying his luck on the penultimate climb of the Col de Joux, Carapaz put in another attack on the final climb to Antagnod to distance all his top 10 rivals except the man in pink. Del Toro followed in the Ecuadorian’s wheel over the summit, and then pipped Carapaz in the sprint for second place to extend his lead in the general classification to 43 seconds ahead of Saturday’s showdown to Sestriere.

Giro d'Italia

Haunted no more: How Yates laid his Giro ghosts to rest in stunning style

02/06/2025 at 15:43

Britain’s Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) finished in a select chase group 24 seconds back to retain his third place in the standings but dropped to 1'21" in arrears on the eve of the race’s return to the Colle delle Finestre, where he imploded while wearing pink in 2018.

Canada’s Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) was tailed off on the final descent into Champoluc and fell to 2'32" behind in fourth place overall.

But the day belonged to that man Prodhomme, who refused to throw in the towel after riding clear of fellow escapees Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek) on the Col de Joux with 28km remaining, before benefitting from the GC stalemate behind to secure the biggest win of his career.

If the pink jersey is still in the balance, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) is now guaranteed the maglia ciclamino and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) the blue jersey – provided they complete Sunday’s final stage into Rome.

With five climbs peppering the 166km route and almost 5,000 metres of vertical gain on the menu, Friday’s Stage 19 bore all the credentials of the race’s ‘tappone’, or queen stage.

Prodhomme was in the mix from the outset, the Frenchman going clear in a four-man move alongside Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal Quick-Step) and Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike). The gap never grew much above 30 seconds on the Cat. 3 Croce Serra climb, with a large chase group swept up shortly before the summit.

Twenty-nine riders eventually went clear after the intermediate sprint, with Denmark’s Pedersen involved after sprinting to fifth place to make it mathematically impossible for Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) to catch him in the maglia ciclamino standings.

Pedersen was joined by three Lidl-Trek team-mates, notably Verona – winner of Stage 15 to Asiago and clearly in good form. Also involved in the large chase group was Thursday’s Stage 18 winner Nico Denz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Tiberi and his Bahrain Victorious team-mate Pello Bilbao, French climbers David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL), and Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Shortly after the riders started the Cat. 1 Col Tzecore, the leading quartet were joined by the chasers to form a 33-man breakaway that quickly lost riders as the gradient – and heat – increased. The gap grew to three minutes as Italy’s Christian Scaroni went over the top in pole position to ensure that his Astana team-mate Fortunato would win the maglia azzurra.

'Deary me' - 'Struggling' Pidcock distanced with 101km to go

Video credit: TNT Sports

The Red Bull and Tudor teams of Pellizzari and Michael Storer came to the front of the pink jersey group ahead of the next climb before the Visma and EF teams of Yates and Carapaz took up pacing duties ahead of the expected GC fireworks, with Gee’s Israel-Premier Tech team also showing their hand.

By now the leading group had been whittled down to 10 riders with Australia’s Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla) and Germany’s Steinhauser setting a hefty tempo to dispatch the likes of Van Aert on the Col Saint-Pantaleon.

With both Yates and Carapaz isolated in the shrinking GC group behind, both Steinhauser and Lemmen dropped back to lend a hand, with Spain’s Igor Arrieta dropping back on the Col de Joux to join the UAE train around the pink jersey.

Rafal Majka, Filippo Baroncini, Brandon McNulty and Adam Yates were giving Del Toro an armchair ride as the advantage of the leaders came down to just over a minute. This sparked a reaction from Prodhomme, Verona and Tiberi, who rode clear of Bilbao and Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty) on the Col de Joux in search of what looked to be an unlikely chance of victory.

Frenchman Prodhomme decided to roll the dice inside the final 30km, dropping his companions 8km from the summit. Behind, the entire top 10 was in the pink jersey group until Adam Yates faded ahead of the inevitable attack from Carapaz. Del Toro and Simon Yates had it covered and the chasers went over the top 50 seconds down on the lone leader Prodhomme, whose time out ahead was in the balance.

'Here we go' - Carapaz launches attack but GC rivals Yates and Del Toro respond immediately

Video credit: TNT Sports

But Prodhomme refused to give up and banked on his pursuers being bogged down by the mind games of the fight for pink. His lead was up to 1’20" as he started the final climb with 13km remaining – and every pained pedal stroke brought him closer to his goal.

The longer the GC stalemate continued, the better Prodhomme’s chances became – and when Carapaz coaxed Del Toro with an attack near the summit, it was too late to affect the outcome of the stage.

Prodhomme kept his cool on the descent to cross the line 58 seconds clear of his pursuers, with Del Toro picking up two extra bonus seconds by pipping Carapaz for second place.

"I’ve waited a long time for a win – I got my first a few weeks ago in the Tour of the Alps and now I have a WorldTour win here on the Giro," a jubilant Prodhomme said. "I’ve very very happy. It was the goal with the team – win one stage – and now it’s okay.

"We didn’t have a big gap on the first climb and when I followed the first attacks I didn’t have a good feeling – my legs were very bad. But kilometre by kilometre my legs got better, and in the last climb [Col de Joux] I saw that the gap was not very big and I had to take a risk. Before today I had just two top fives – because I didn’t take a risk – so today I wanted to play for the win."

'He hasn't got the legs' - Carapaz and Del Toro drop Simon Yates on final Stage 19 climb

Video credit: TNT Sports

Italy’s Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) led the chasers home at 1'22" with Pellizzari crashing on the final corner and Gee coming home 1'27" down after losing touch on the final descent. Australia’s Storer lost almost a minute on the descent but rose one place to ninth in the standings, while McNulty replaced team-mate Adam Yates in the top 10 after another solid display working for Del Toro.

The Mexican 21-year-old will start Stage 20 with a 43-second advantage over Carapaz and 1'21" over Simon Yates, who cut a forlorn figure at the finish. Asked what Visma’s plan was for Friday’s stage, Yates said: "Completely different to what we did, so I’ll have to review that with the team."

Asked to elaborate, Yates added: "No, I don’t want to say anything."

Pressed on whether Saturday’s longer climb of the Colle delle Finestre would suit him better than the other GC favourites, a disgruntled Yates said: "I don’t know. It’s also gravel halfway up, so… I prefer not to do that either. But we’ll see how the legs are. The legs were good today so hopefully the same tomorrow and I can try something."

‘Completely different’ – Yates admits Visma Stage 19 plan wasn’t followed after losing time

Video credit: TNT Sports

So, it will all come down to Stage 20 – a leg-sapping 205km test from Verres to Sestriere, with the focal point being the infamous Colle delle Finestre that peaks out 27km from the finish. The 18.5km climb concludes with eight kilometres of gravel and presents the only time the race goes above 2,000 metres.

Del Toro may well be in pink now, but the hardest day is still to come – and both Carapaz, the 2019 champion, and Yates, whose chances in 2018 were famously ended on the Finestre, have a point to prove.

- - -

Stream the cycling season, including the Giro d'Italia, live on TNT Sports and discovery+

Giro d'Italia

‘Game changer’ Van Aert key to creating 'pink tidal wave' to seal Kooij win

01/06/2025 at 23:11

Giro d'Italia

‘Defining moment of my career’ – Yates reflects on ‘amazing’ Giro triumph

01/06/2025 at 21:28