Richard Carapaz was on the verge of winning the Giro d’Italia after he retained the overall leader’s pink jersey in Saturday’s penultimate stage in the Dolomites. The Ecuadorian comfortably held off the two-times champion Vincenzo Nibali in the 194km ride from Feltre as the 20th stage was won by the Spaniard Pello Bilbao.
It was a chaotic ride throughout and Colombia’s Miguel Ángel López, who holds the white jersey for the best under-25 rider, lashed out at a fan after tangling with him in the final few kilometres. The Astana rider could face exclusion from the race, which ends in Verona with a 17km individual time trial on Sunday.
López was one of the attackers of the day but the top guns held firm, with the exception of the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, who was dropped in the final climb up to Monte Avena. As a result the Jumbo-Visma rider slipped from third to fourth overall to the benefit of Spain’s Mikel Landa, Carapaz’s lieutenant at Movistar.
Carapaz leads Nibali by 1min 54sec and Landa by 2:53. Roglic is 3:16 off the pace after being handed a 10-second penalty for accepting a push from a spectator.
Sensing Roglic’s weakness and trying to make the most of his last chance of unsettling Carapaz, Nibali gave everything in the last four kilometres. But Carapaz and Landa could not be shaken off and Bilbao sprinted to victory on the day ahead of Landa.
“We’ve tried to win the stage with Mikel Landa as well as myself to retain the Maglia Rosa but we’ve missed out by very little,” said Carapaz. “However, we’re happy with how it went today. I believe 1:54 over Nibali is enough, although anything can happen in a final time trial.”
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