Stage 19 did not deliver a definitive winner of the 2012 Giro d'Italia, but it did deliver a lot of action. Astana’s Roman Kreuziger, who saw his General Classification hopes evaporate when he cracked in Stage 14, salvaged something from the race by attacking 25 km from the finish line and outlasting the rest of the field to take his first Grand Tour stage win.
The 26-year-old Czech rider attacked on the penultimate climb of the day, the Cat 2 Passo Lavaze, joining with two riders from the breakaway, Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Serge Pauwels and Dario Cataldo, for the next 20 kilometers. Then halfway up the second climb up the Passo Pampeago, Kreuziger accelerated away and finished the race on his own, holding off the charging GC leaders.
“I am happy with my first victory in a Grand Tour,” Kreuziger told velonation.com. “I didn’t break off on the first climb up to Pampeago but waited until the Lavazè, knowing that it was a long and arduous climb. Luckily the two Omega riders had their minds on the classification and we managed to come to a good understanding to keep the break going.
“On the second time up to Pampeago I was aware that the pink jersey group was cutting the gap and I only knew I would win when I was 200 meters from the line.”
Ryder Hesjedal, the man the rest of the GC contenders marked as the greatest threat, managed to gain 13 seconds on race leader Joaquim Rodriguez. Rodriguez and Michele Scarponi said before the stage that they planned to—needed to—take some time out of Hesjedal, who is the best time-trialer of the top four. Instead, the Garmin-Barracuda rider proved the strongest.
“The legs felt good there at the end. I have to take advantage of the situation,” he said. “Today was hard, tomorrow is going to be harder. The team is supporting me. Everything is possible.”
