Pogacar becomes "Giro Patron" as he waits for Thomas after crash on Stage 19

Geraint Thomas, third overall, benefited from the sportsmanship from his rivals lead by Pogacar, after he fell 6km from the finish, as the peloton reached the final climb

Andra Venrame won the 19th stage of the Giro d’Italia after attacking his breakaway companions on the hilly 157 kilometre run from Mortegliano to Sappada.

“It’s a nice day today,” said the Italian who also won a stage in 2021. Vendrame, who rides for Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, crossed the line 54 seconds ahead of Pelayo Sanchez with Georg Steinhauser third, another 13 seconds behind.

The peloton, headed by race leader Tadej Pogacar led in by two UAE team-mates, crossed the line 15 minutes and 56 seconds back. Pogacar leads the tour by 7 minutes and 42 seconds, with Daniel Martinez in second place, “We were really conservative with the team. Nobody spent too much energy,” Pogacar said suggesting that he had been looking ahead to Saturday’s mountainous penultimate stage. “Tomorrow is the last day of the Giro for us climbers.”

The group of leaders waited for the Welsh Ineos rider Geraint Thomas who crashed, and had to run back to the team car and collect a spare bike.

“It shows that everyone has respect for everyone else,” said Pogacar. “In this group, nobody wanted to see Thomas lose in that way. I hope he’s OK after the crash, it’s unfortunate . . . this stupid moment at the end. Hope we can have a great show tomorrow.”

Pogacar has not only shown he is a great athlete, but also impeccable leadership. In years gone by in the Grand Tours, there would have been one dominant rider – Merckx, Hinault, Cancellara or Armstrong for example. We've not seen this in modern racing in the last few decades.

Saturday’s mountainous 184km run south from Alpago to Bassano del Grappa gives Pogacar’s rivals one last chance to attack him before the race ends Sunday with a flat circuit starting and ending in Rome.

Pogacar hopes to win his sixth stage victory in this year’s race, “The best thing is to arrive solo,” he said about Saturday's finish. “But you never know. Maybe tomorrow someone will be stronger than me.”

VIDEO: 2024 Giro d'Italia Stage 19 Highlights

Stage 19 Top 10

1  VENDRAME Andrea Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 3:51:05
2  SÁNCHEZ Pelayo Movistar Team 0:54
3  STEINHAUSER Georg EF Education - EasyPost 1:07
4  NARVÁEZ Jhonatan INEOS Grenadiers 2:27
5  PLAPP Luke Team Jayco AlUla 2:27
6  VELASCO Simone Astana Qazaqstan Team 2:30
7  TRATNIK Jan Team Visma | Lease a Bike 2:30
8  VALGREN Michael EF Education - EasyPost 2:30
9  ALAPHILIPPE Julian Soudal Quick-Step 2:32
10  HERMANS Quinten Alpecin - Deceuninck 3:52

GC after Stage 19

1  POGACAR Tadej UAE Team Emirates 71:24:03
2  MARTÍNEZ Daniel Felipe BORA - hansgrohe 7:42
3  THOMAS Geraint INEOS Grenadiers 8:04
4  O'CONNOR Ben Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 9:47
5  TIBERI Antonio Bahrain - Victorious 10:29
6  ARENSMAN Thymen INEOS Grenadiers 11:10
7  BARDET Romain Team dsm-firmenich PostNL 12:42
8  RUBIO Einer Movistar Team 13:33
9  ZANA Filippo Team Jayco AlUla 13:52
10  HIRT Jan Soudal Quick-Step 14:44