LIVE stage 19 Giro d'Italia 2026 | Is Derek Gee-West going to cause another Giro upset?

It’s the day of reckoning, the ultimate test that will determine whether you stay afloat or go under. The Dolomites will put the GC contenders through their paces in a stage featuring over 5,000 metres of climbing. The battle for the pink jersey seems to be decided, but who will join Jonas Vingegaard on the podium? And who will win the stage? In the Leader’s Jersey, we’ll be following it live!

Jonas Vingegaard has been the best on the uphill finishes four times so far, but there hasn’t been a single stage like this one yet. The Dolomites live up to their legendary status, with the passage over the infamous Passo Giau, the Cima Coppi of this Giro: the highest mountain pass. It would separate the wheat from the chaff.

Whether Vingegaard was up for a fifth stage win remained to be seen. He had previously said he’d prefer to take it a bit easier, but you never know with the eager Dane. In any case, the breakaway riders also sensed their chance and were now hoping for an opportunity in the high mountains. But the podium contenders certainly had their own plans for this gruelling stage to Piani di Pezzè.

A fierce battle was expected from the start, and so it proved. Not just from the men hoping to win the stage, because Netcompany INEOS and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe were keen to have riders in the breakaway to help their leaders later in the race. Naturally, Decathlon CMA CGM weren’t happy about that. It meant it took a long time again before a breakaway could be established.

Eventually, a group of five riders managed to open up a small gap. Chris Harper (Pinarello Q36.5), Florian Stork (Tudor), Johannes Kulset and Fredrik Dversnes (both Uno-X Mobility) were joined by Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe domestique Nico Denz. They didn’t have much room for manoeuvre as the road began to climb again: the Passo Duran marked the start of the gruelling Dolomites.

A second group of attackers soon arrived, catching up at the foot of the Duran. A dozen riders, including Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL), Thomas Silva (XDS Astana), Alessandro Pinarello (NSN) and Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Earlier in the day, Christen had seen his team-mate Jhonatan Narváez drop out: the three-time stage winner got into the car. According to RAI, he had collided with a bus after stage 18.

Once the climb really began, we saw the riders you’d expect to see at the front and back. At the front, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike), among others, made their presence felt, whilst at the back the door was open for Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) and their teammates.

The next ones to go? Number 9 Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), and naturally, there was a reaction from that. Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek), Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), and Michael Storer (Tudor) went after him.

Gee-West capitalised on Tudor’s work and provisionaly knocked Thymen Arensman off the podium, but other riders in the top ten were also finding it tough. O'Connor cracked, but Bahrain Victorious's white jersey holder Afonso Eulalio was also struggling badly on the day's second climb. And that was good news for the white jersey ambitions of Davide Piganzoli, Vingegaard's lead-out man.

The Portuguese rider did manage to catch up, just as the Visma riders eased off the pace slightly. Meanwhile, at the front, Ciccone and Rubio made their move, with the mountains jersey their target. To achieve this, Ciccone needed the Passo Giau – which began 59 kilometres from the finish – to secure maximum points. He started the climb with a lead of more than two minutes.

Lidl-Trek were therefore trying to have their cake and eat it, whilst Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe briefly played the Jai Hindley card and set the pace on the Cima Coppi – the Giau, that is. At the front, their rider Giulio Pellizzari was really pushing hard, with Ciccone, Kuss and Rubbio in his wake. Poels had already dropped back slightly in that group, where Ciccone took the Cima Coppi and thus virtually took over the blue mountain jersey. Among the general classification contenders, things remained fairly quiet, led by Bart Lemmen.