2019 Giro d’Italia: Stage 18 Results

Damiano Cima won Stage 18 of the 2019 Giro d’Italia, the last remnant of a three man breakaway that started early in the day. No change in the General Classification as race leader Richard Carapaz finished safely with the peloton.

Stage 18 of the 2019 Giro d’Italia was the last chance for the sprinters to shine, with only a couple of climbs ahead of a long run into Santa Maria di Sala. The stage departs from Valdaora, at 1096 metres and ends up nearly at sea level. Most of the sprinters have already gone home by this point, leaving Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) as the remaining top-tier sprinters.

The day started with the news that former race leader Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) dropped out of the race with a saddle sore.

A few early attacks were brought back before Nico Denz (Ag2r – La Mondiale), Damiano Cima (Nippo – Vin Fantini) and Mirco Maestri (Israel Cycling Academy) got away, surviving from an initial break that also included Matteo Montaguti, Michael Schwarzmann, Jack Bauer, Enrico Battaglin, Michael Gogl & Tom Bohli.

With 130km remaining, the escapees had a gap of 3’30”, but a few ill-timed nature breaks in the peloton allowed that to open to 5’30” soon after.

Dimension Data, Israel and BORA were leading the chase. Rain started soon after the descent from Pieve di Alpago, sending many back to team cars for jackets.

The gap narrowed briefly to under 3 minutes as the leaders came into Conegliano for the intermediate sprint. Maestri took the points with Cima rolling through second. For the peloton, it was Demare and Ackermann going for the points. Guarnieri led Demare out with Ackermann on his wheel. Demare just took it without any real effort from Ackermann.

50km to go and the peloton allowed the gap to open back up to 4’20”.

Quick Step posted a rider at the head of the peloton to help with the chase, but the leaders still had a gap of 4’10’ with 35km remaining.

Denz, Maestri, and Cima were going full gas, trying to hang on for a win. With 15km remaining, they still had a 2 minute gap to the maglia rosa group.

The gap was down to 1’07” as the leaders passed under the 10km banner. Bora was the most active at the head of the peloton with Israel Cycling Academy working hard as well. QuickStep and Dimension Data were taking their turns as well, but the leaders were still holding strong.

There were some hard turns in the final kilometers, which worked to the leaders’ advantage. Denz made a brief attack on his break companions before being brought back. The trio was back to working together, trying to hold their 30 second gap with 2500m to go.

Lotto Soudal and FDJ both put riders at the head of the peloton to raise the pressure as the break crossed the flamme rouge with 17 seconds advantage.

Cima had some strength left in his legs and attacked to hold off the surging gruppo. He takes the win as the peloton overtook Maestri and Denz. Ackermann came through to take the second place points.

Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the stage winner Damiano Cima said: “I can’t believe what just happened. I’ve spent so many kilometres in breakaways during this Giro. I thought I’d never make it but I’ve won today. It’s insane. It’s the dream of a lifetime.”

The race leader Richard Carapaz said: “It’s been a quiet stage but a long one, intense at the beginning only. I’ve had a good support from my team again. Tomorrow will be an important test but I’m confident to keep the Maglia Rosa.”

Stage 18 Brief Results:

1. Damiano Cima (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane) at 4:56:04
2. Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe)
3. Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates)
4. Florian Senechal (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
5. Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data)
6. Manuel Belletti (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec)
7. Davide Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy)
8. Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ)
9. Sean Bennett (EF Education First)
10. Mirco Maestri (Bardiani CSF)

General Classification After Stage 18:

1. Richard Carapaz (Movistar Team)
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) at 1’54”
3. Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) at 2’16”
4. Mikel Landa (Movistar Team) at 3’03”
5. Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) at 5’07”
6. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) at 6’17”
7. Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 6’48”
8. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) at 7’13”
9. Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) at 8’21”
10. Davide Formolo (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 8’59”