Santiago Buitrago takes stage 19 win at the Giro d'Italia with Derek Gee denied again

Santiago Buitrago has taken a breakaway victory on stage 19 after a brilliant effort on the final climb to the line on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo on stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia.

The queen stage? Stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia will head deep into the Dolomites, for a day that has in the past seen weather affect - most noticeably in 2013. This is the return of Tre Cime di Lavaredo to the Giro d'Italia. 5400 meters of climbing, high altitude, multiple climbs, both long and steep. It's the stuff nightmares are made of for the sprinters.

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Following an infernal battle to get into the early breakaway, a total of 15 riders eventually went clear including Magnus Cort, Santiago Buitrago, Patrick Konrad and of course, Derek Gee.

Even then though the race didn't settle down. With a gap of around 5 minutes between breakaway and peloton, Ben Healy made an attacking move to try and bridge across with the aim of reclaiming the King of the Mountains jersey. Thibaut Pinot made a big effort to try and follow, but with INEOS not willing to allow the Frenchman a gap due to the fact he started the day in 7th on the GC the whole peloton was put into difficulty.

Ultimately the attack came to nothing with both Pinot and Healy safely back into the peloton.

With 75km to go, the breakaway's lead had extended out to 8 minutes. With the amount of climbing still to go however, the stage win was not guaranteed.

By 50km to go that advantage had been cut slightly to 7:20 as Team Jayco AlUlacame to the front of the peloton looking to protect Eddie Dunbar's position in the GC with Buitrago, who started the day at 12:02 down, up the road.

As the race reached the Passo Giau, attacks began to come in the breakaway. Carlos Verona made the first big move and was quickly joined by Derek Gee and Buitrago.

A counter-attack from Michael Hepburn and Magnus Cort then extended the leading group's numbers to five.

As the leaders crested the climb, Gee took the maximum King of the Mountains points, moving himself up to third place in that classification.

On the descent, Nicolas Prodhomme and Vadim Pronskiy rejoined the group at the front with another group of four joining soon after with the eleven riders together as they reached the second intermediate sprint.

As soon as the front group began the penultimate climb, former American champion, Larry Warbasse attacked and began to ride clear.

When the peloton reached the climb, Primoz Roglic curiously changed bike to his ITT one in a significant sign of intent.

The rain returned to the 2023 Giro d'Italia with a vengeance as the race took on the ascent of the Passo Tre Croci with the downpour absolutely drenching the riders.

One man who was surprisingly dropped from the Maglia Rosa group on the ascent was Jay Vine, one of Joao Almeida's key lieutenants.

At the front of the race, it was Gee who took maximum points once again, overtaking Ben Healy to second in the King of the Mountains classification.

With 4km to go, Gee had a small lead up front ahead of a chasing Buitrago whilst back in the GC group, Laurens de Plus's work for the day was done with only Thymen Arensman remaining as help for Geraint Thomas.

With 1.6km to go, Buitrago finally caught Gee. Not hanging around, the Bahrain - Victorious rider immediately attacked the Canadian, riding clear at the front of the race.

Down the road, Eddie Dunbar, 4th overall began to look like he was in some difficulty as Almeida moved to take to the front of the group.

When Primoz Roglic made his attack, Thomas was straight onto his wheel. The Portuguese rider was initially caught out although he did eventually claw his way back.

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