Team Sky's Mikel Landa wins Giro d'Italia stage 19 as Nairo Quintana takes lead

Landa, twice beaten in the final metres of stages this week, made sure on stage 19

Friday 26 May 2017 21:22 BST
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Mikel Landa made sure after twice being beaten in the final metres this week
Mikel Landa made sure after twice being beaten in the final metres this week (Getty)

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Team Sky's Mikel Landa won a stage of the 100th Giro d'Italia at the third attempt as Nairo Quintana took the leader's pink jersey off Tom Dumoulin on a dramatic day.

Landa, twice beaten in the final metres of stages this week, made sure on stage 19 as he went clear from the breakaway with under 10 kilometres left to cross the line completely alone, beginning his celebrations several hundred metres from home.

But there was drama further down the mountain as Dumoulin, put under pressure from the start, cracked on the final climb and the Team Sunweb rider surrendered more than a minute to his main rivals.

That put Movistar's Quintana - winner of the 2014 Giro - into pink with Dumoulin 38 seconds back, five seconds ahead of Bahrain-Merida's two-time Giro winner and defending champion Vincenzo Nibali.

However, Dumoulin will not be panicking as this race up to Piancavallo was the last of the summit finishes on this year's Giro, and Sunday's time trial in Milan strongly favours the Dutchman on paper.

It had been a stressful day for Dumoulin from the start. Following something of a war of words between the main rivals after Thursday's stage, tensions were already high before an early split in the peloton, driven by Movistar and Bahrain-Merida, left Dumoulin more than a minute down on his rivals on the road.

Quintana now leads, 38 seconds ahead of Dumoulin
Quintana now leads, 38 seconds ahead of Dumoulin (Getty)

There were suggestions, at one point coming from Team Sunweb, that the rivals had attacked while the maglia rosa took a natural break in a repeat of the scenes on stage 16, although the team later back-tracked as it emerged Dumoulin had simply been caught napping on a descent.

He was able to bridge back over gradually but the early fireworks put paid to the first break of the day - with all of that happening in the first half of the 191km stage from San Candido.

A fresh break went, and had an advantage of more than 10 minutes when they reached the foot of the final climb, where Astana's Luis Leon Sanchez and UAE's Rui Costa initially went clear before Landa moved up to join them.

Landa eventually raced clear with a little under 10 kilometres of the 15km climb remaining, and would take victory from Costa by one minute 49 seconds.

The Spaniard is doing his best to salvage another disappointing Giro for Team Sky after their hopes were ruined by a police motorbike on Blockhaus, and also leads the King of the Mountains competition.

But all eyes were on the battle behind as Dumoulin ran out of team-mates and drifted off the back of the main group.

The others were struggling to capitalise with everyone at their limits, but Thibaut Pinot, hoping to knock Nibali off the podium, attacked before Quintana and Nibali were able to respond - with the move leaving Dumoulin trailing in their wake.

PA

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