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American Sepp Kuss claimed his first Giro d’Italia stage win as team-mate Jonas Vingegaard moved closer to overall general classification victory.<\/b><\/p>\n
On the 19th of 21 stages, the 31-year-old Kuss – the 2023 Vuelta a Espana winner – took the lead with 2km to go when he caught long-time leader Giulio Ciccone.<\/p>\n
He also won one of the individual stages in the 2021 Tour de France and became only the 116th rider to have a stage victory in each of the three Grand Tour events.<\/p>\n
“The main challenge is to win the pink jersey with Jonas, and so far it’s looking good,” said Kuss, who rides for the Visma-Lease A Bike team.<\/p>\n
“When they told me the other night I had the chance to go in the break I knew I had to seize the opportunity. This is something I’ve always dreamed of.<\/p>\n
“Every year it gets harder and harder. I keep getting better, but so does everyone else. To win a stage at the Giro, I just can’t believe it.<\/p>\n
“At the bottom of the climb, he [Ciccone] had one-minute [lead] and I thought it was over. I just tried to focus on doing the finest climb as possible and I knew I had to push it all the way to the line.<\/p>\n
“I knew my mother was going to be there standing 500 metres from the finish so a big shout out to her and my family. I only see them a few weeks every year so it’s really nice to have her and my friends there so this is for them.”<\/p>\n
Stage 19 was a 151-km mountain stage from Feltre to Alleghe and Canada’s Derek Gee-West finished second, 13 seconds behind Kuss, with Italian Ciccone a further 23 seconds back in third place.<\/p>\n
Austrian Felix Gall came fourth, 39 seconds off the lead with Vingegaard coming fifth in the same time.<\/p>\n
That meant Denmark’s Vingegaard, who has twice won the overall Tour de France title and the 2025 Vuelta a Espana, maintained his advantage over Gall at four minutes and three seconds.<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old is bidding to become only the eighth rider to win cycling’s three Grand Tours.<\/p>\n
The penultimate stage on Saturday is another mountain stage, of 200km from Gemona del Friuli to Piancavallo, before Sunday’s final stage in Rome.<\/p>\n
Giro d’Italia stage 19 results<\/b><\/p>\n Sepp Kuss (USA\/Team Visma – Lease a Bike) 4 hrs 28 mins 33 secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Derek Gee-West (Can\/Lidl – Trek) +13secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Giulio Ciccone (Ita\/Lidl – Trek) +36secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Felix Gall (Aut\/Decathlon CMA CGM Team) +39secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Jonas Vingegaard (Den\/Team Visma – Lease a Bike) same time<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Jai Hindley (Aus\/Red Bull – BORA) +43secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Damiano Caruso (Ita\/Bahrain Victorious) +1min 06secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Davide Piganzoli (Ita\/Team Visma – Lease a Bike) +1min 11secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Einer Rubio (Col\/Movistar Team) +1min 19secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Michael Storer (Aus\/Tudor Pro Cycling Team) same time<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n Giro d’Italia general classification results after stage 19<\/b><\/p>\n Jonas Vingegaard (Den\/Team Visma – Lease a Bike) 75hrs 13mins 16secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Felix Gall (Aut\/Decathlon CMA CGM Team) +4mins 03secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Jai Hindley (Aus\/Red Bull – BORA) +5mins 04secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Thymen Arensman (Ned\/Netcompany INEOS) +5mins 33secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Derek Gee-West (Can\/Lidl – Trek) +6mins 31secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Afonso Eul\u00e1lio (Por\/Bahrain Victorious) +7mins 26secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Michael Storer (Aus\/Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +7mins 50secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Davide Piganzoli (Ita\/Team Visma – Lease a Bike) +8mins 29secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Damiano Caruso (Ita\/Bahrain Victorious) +9mins 01secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Egan Bernal (Col\/Netcompany INEOS) +11mins 19secs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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