Results Giro d'Italia stage 19 - Sepp Kuss takes victory on Dolomites mountain battle; Arensman drops out of the podium as Vingegaard defends pink jersey

Stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia was the most difficult of the race, however in the Dolomites the big attacks only came on the climb to Pianni di Pezzè. From the breakaway, Sepp Kuss brought in his first stage win at the Giro, completing the list of stage wins in each Grand Tour; whilst behind Jonas Vingegaard comfortably defended his lead throughout the Dolomites stage.

The 151-kilometer stage had the first 45 kilometers be relatively flat, which meant the first hour of racing saw several of the breakaway contenders hold back on their efforts. There were attacks on a few rolling hills and two small groups went up the road.

Mark Donovan was in the front group but crashed and abandoned the race, leaving his teammate Chris Harper isolated alongside Johannes Kulset, Florian Stork, Fredrik Dversnes and Nico Denz. At this point in the race, early in the stage, maglia ciclamino contender Jhonatan Narváez withdrew from the race, suffering from the consequences of a post-stage crash from the previous day.

At the start of the Passo Duran the action ignited in the peloton once again, with the climbers now making their moves. The front five were joined by a chasing group, and later on many more would join the front. Visma kept a constant pace but did not look to chase any attack. After Damiano Caruso moved off the front, a separate attack then followed with a train of Tudor riders and Derek Gee leaving the peloton.

That small group would link up with the breakaway that included climbers such as Giulio Ciccone, Einer Rubio, Enric Mas, Jan Hirt, Wout Poels, Chris Harper and David de la Cruz. Visma set the pace in the peloton behind, but they also had Sepp Kuss int he front group, who got freedom to chase the stage win.

On the climb to Coi Ciccone and Einer Rubio got a gap over the rest of the field, and then there was the urgency in the chasing group to close down the move which would thin out the breakaway.

The duo were caught and the race would reignite on the Passo Giau, with only the strongest climbers out of the breakaway to survive out front. In the peloton there were no attacks, and Red Bull helped with the pacing as Derek Gee and Michael Storer were directly entering the provisional podium positions. Giulio Pellizzari attacked in front here, however several riders could follow.

Giulio Ciccone's strong performance sent him to the blue jersey as he scored enough points to overtake Jonas Vingegaard, and on the Passo Falzarego Derek Gee sprinted to the bonus seconds on the Red Bull Kilometer. He was met with a frustrated Einer Rubio who launched gestures towards the Lidl-Trek rider; and at the top of the climb Rubio sprinted to beat Ciccone at the top of the second-category climb.

Ciccone was visibly upset with Rubio's actions at the top of the climb, and sprinted into the first corner of the descent, creating a gap. This would balloon into a minute over the descent, whilst behind Decathlon and INEOS began taking up most of the chase as they had their positions in the podium threatened.

Ciccone entered the final climb with 5 kilometers to go with a minute of lead over the group of Gee, Michael Storer, Jan Hirt, Einer Rubio, Damiano Caruso, Sepp Kuss and Giulio Pellizzari. The group quickly began to split as Pellizzari attacked, followed by Kuss and Gee; and with the peloton around 1:30 minutes behind the chasing group.

In the peloton Decathlon set a hard pace and Felix Gall attacked still in the first half of the climb, followed by Jonas Vingegaard whilst Jai Hindley was slightly behind - later joined by Pellizzari. Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal were dropped each individually; whilst Afonso Eulálio remained in contention to defend the white jersey over Davide Piganzoli.

Out front Sepp Kuss dropped Piganzoli and Gee and with 2 kilometers he linked up with Ciccone in front. He attacked straight over the top, creating the winning gap. The American took the stage win. Derek Gee was second on the day and Ciccone survived for third.

Pellizzari gave it his all to extend the GC group's gap over Thymen Arensman, successfully helping Jai Hindley jumping into third place.