Giro d’Italia stage 20: Bilbao takes stage victory, Carapaz retains pink jersey

Pello Bilbao (Astana) took his second stage victory of the race after a massive day in the Dolomites on Saturday. The Spaniard’s win marks Astana’s third of the Giro.

Bilbao powered past Mikel Landa (Movistar) in the final hundred meters of the stage, leaving the Movistar man taking second, and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) following in third. Pink jersey-wearing Richard Carapaz (Movistar) finished shortly after, with GC rival Vincenzo Nibali on his wheel.

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), who was distanced on the final climb of the day, finished 55 seconds behind his rivals for the podium, and also received a 10-second penalty having been given a lengthy push from a fan on the penultimate climb of the day, which he took no action to prevent.

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) also lost more time on GC despite an attacking performance, having been taken off his bike in a crash with a spectator on the final climb.

“The first [stage win] was really special, but today, because of the difficulty of the stage, it was more difficult to arrive at the finish line in the first position,” said stage-winner Bilbao.

“When Vincenzo (Nibali), Landa and Carapaz arrived [at the front of the race], I thought that my stage was almost finished, but they were also tired. I tried to recover and take the best wheel. I knew Carapaz would try to give the stage win to Landa, so I was on his wheel… I knew I had a small advantage, and in the last meters I was able to beat Landa.”

The 194-kilometer mountain stage was arguably the toughest of the race, with less than 10km of flat roads and 5 categorized climbs, including the unrelentingly tough 19km Passo Manghen.

An early break of 13 went away early, and Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli) was the first man over the Manghen, which was the race’s new Cima Coppi after the Gavia was cut from stage 16.

The break was brought back to heel after the Manghen, by which point the front of the race was made up of a select group of around 30 riders. The main breakaway of the day formed at the race moved toward the third climb of the day, with Bilbao and Ciccone among the seven that went clear.

Behind them, Movistar set the pace on behalf of Carapaz. Despite suggestions that Nibali or Roglic would try a long-range attack, neither attempted a move, with the latter totally isolated.

Landa brought on the decisive split on the penultimate climb of the day to Croce d’Aune, attacking from the now-diminished GC group with 2km to the summit. The breakaway group was now over one minute up the road, with Valentine Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) leading the race 20 seconds in front of them.

Landa’s move forced Roglic into leading the chase, mindful of his third place on GC, with Landa starting the day only 47 seconds behind him. Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) took up the chase next, working on behalf of team-leader Nibali, though Landa went into the short descent leading to the final climb of the day with a 20-second gap.

Nibali piled the pressure onto the chase group on the steep, technical descent, with Carapaz tight on his wheel.

The pair bridged over to Landa, with the trio starting the short final climb together. It was down to Nibali to be aggressive on the climb as he looked to take time back on Carapaz, however he was unable to shake the Ecuadorian despite multiple short attacks. With 4km to go, the trio bridged to the six remaining riders of the breakaway, with Bilbao still among them.

Carapaz took to the front for the majority of the rest of the climb, looking to set up his loyal teammate Landa. Nibali attacked again with 2km to go, but was again shadowed by the Movistar pair that had been on his wheel the whole climb.

Landa opened up the sprint for the win in the flat finale of the stage, with Bilbao following closely. The Astana man came off Landa’s wheel with 100m to go to outsprint his countryman. Ciccone, another of the remaining breakaway group, followed in third.

Though Landa missed out on the stage, he was rewarded with a place in third on the GC, moving 23 seconds ahead of Roglic on the overall.

Carapaz remains 1:54 ahead of Nibali, with only Sunday’s 16km time trial to come. Roglic’s GC challenge now seems over, with the Slovenian needing to take 3:06 to finish the race in pink.