The Czech cyclist Josef Cerny (CCC) conquered the nineteenth stage of the Giro d'Italia this Friday in Asti (northwest), shortened by about 130 kilometers after a protest movement by the peloton before the start.
The Dutchman Wilco Kelderman held onto the pink jersey as the leader on the eve of the last mountain stage and two days before the end of the Italian tour in Milan.
Cerny won solo with a twenty-second advantage over the Belgian Victor Campenaerts at the end of the 124 kilometers, with a changed start from Morbegno to Abbiategrasso.
Shortly before the initially planned start, a majority of the peloton refused to compete in the 258 km stage, a very long distance in the third week of the race, although two teams invited by the organizers (Androni, Bardiani) were ready to ride.
In the midst of chaos and under incessant rain, the riders ended up getting on the buses of the different teams to go to the new starting point.
In the stage, a breakaway of 14 cyclists formed in the first hour. The Bora team of Slovak Peter Sagan, who is seeking the points classification jersey, launched the pursuit before easing up about sixty kilometers from the finish.
The gap quickly grew between the race leader and the peloton, which arrived at the finish with a delay of nearly 12 minutes.
The stage winner, Cerny, dropped a small group (Armée, Campenaerts, Clarke, Mosca, Pellaud) 23 km from Asti and went into time trial mode until the finish.
Fifth in the time trial in Valdobbiadene last Saturday in the Giro, the 27-year-old Czech achieved the most important victory of his career this Friday.
On Saturday, the 20th stage, which had to renounce the main ascents planned (Agnello and Izoard above all) due to the rejection of the French authorities due to Covid-19, will be 198 km between Alba and Sestriere.
Sestriere is climbed three times and will create differences between the top three in the general classification (Kelderman, Jai Hindley, Tao Geoghegan Hart), who are currently separated by 15 seconds.
Ecuadorians
Jonathan Caicedo finished in 129th place. Meanwhile, Cepeda finished in 119th place.