Giro d'Italia: Which GC riders lost time on stage 19 to Alpe di Mera

Overall leader Team Ineos rider Colombias Egan Bernal rides in the final ascent followed by Team Deceuninck rider Portugals Joao Almeida and Team Bahrain rider Italys Damiano Caruso during the 19th stage of the Giro dItalia 2021 cycling race 166km between Abbiategrasso and Alpe di Mera on May 28 2021 Photo by Luca Bettini POOL AFP Photo by LUCA BETTINIPOOLAFP via Getty Images
Overall leader Team Ineos rider Colombias Egan Bernal rides in the final ascent (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) extended his overall lead over his closest challenger, Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) on stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia, but lost a little more ground to third-placed Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange), who won the stage. 

Bernal carefully managed his effort on the Alpe di Mera summit finish, refusing to directly respond to Yates’ attack 6.3km from the summit, and instead leaning on his teammates before pushing on in the final two kilometres.

Patrick Fletcher

Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.