Three years after his last professional win, Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) soloed out of the breakaway and onto victory on stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia.
The Italian attacked from a seven-rider group with 30km to go en route to Sappada. He then grew out his advantage to over a minute on the final categorised climb, holding off Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar) and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) in pursuit.
Vendrame's victory added yet another success to Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale's tally this season, following on from Valentin Paret-Peintre's stage win earlier in the race. The French squad now counts 22 victories in 2024, compared to nine across all of last year.
"It's a nice day today," the 29-year-old stage winner said afterwards. "The important thing was to get in the breakaway. I was there right from the start."
Vendrame's attack came on a descent, as the rain started to pour in the Dolomites. "I thought that somebody was going to come back," he said, "but I tried to keep a high rhythm, a regular rhythm. They looked after me very well from the car and it was perfect.
"There's another stage to come tomorrow in the mountains. We know that Pogi [Tadej Pogačar] is really strong. We're here with O'Connor for the GC, we've won two stages, and we've got nothing to lose at all. We'll give it a try tomorrow."
Race leader Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) rolled across the finish line almost 16 minutes after Vendrame, alongside his fellow GC contenders.
There was a late scare for Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), who crashed after clipping another rider's rear wheel with 6km to go. The Welshman was able to remount and rejoin the pack shortly afterwards, finishing on the same time.
How it happened
The profile of stage 19 played into the hands of a breakaway, but it took a while for a front group to form.
A chaotic start meant the first 70km of the stage, out of Mortegliano, were raced at over 50km/h, and it wasn't until just before the halfway point that the peloton finally let a breakaway loose. Nineteen riders grouped at the front of the race, among them were stage winners Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadeirs), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), Steinhauser and Sánchez.
With 50km to go, over the 10% gradient of the short Passo Duron, those four riders wriggled clear. They were soon joined by Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Vendrame, who added extra horsepower to the move.
The leading seven didn't stay together for long. With 30km to go, Vendrame launched what appeared to be a doomed attack. His gap initially teetered around the 10-second mark, before slowly ballooning out. By the time he was on the final categorised climb, the Italian had a minute under his belt, and a dogged grimace on his face.
Steinhauser and Sánchez made efforts to bridge across, but the duo could only hack back a handful of seconds.
"They called me a joker," Vendrame said in his post-race interview. But in the end, it was he who had the last laugh.
Results
Giro d'Italia 2024, stage 19: Mortegliano > Sappada (157km)
1. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, in 3:51:05
2. Pelayo Sánchez (Esp) Movistar, +54s
3. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:07
4. Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, +2:27
5. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco AlUla, at same time
6. Simone Velasco (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan, +2:30
7. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Visma-Lease a Bike
8. Michael Valgren (Den) EF Education-EasyPost, both at same time
9. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +2:32
10. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +3:52
General classification after stage 19
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 71:24:03
2. Dani Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, +7:42
3. Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, +8:04
4. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +9:47
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +10:29
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +11:10
7. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +12:42
8. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +13:33
9. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco-AIUla, +13:52
10. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Quick-Step, +14:44
