Giro d'Italia, Kuss wins the dolomite tappone. Ciccone dreams but finishes third

Sepp Kuss won the nineteenth stage of the Giro d’Italia, the spectacular 151-kilometer Feltre-Alleghe (Piani di Pezzè). The Team Visma rider, squire of Jonas Vingegaard, finished ahead of everyone at the end of a very tough Dolomite stage thanks to a decisive attack on the last climb of Pian di Pezzè, where he pulled away from Derek Gee and Giulio Ciccone, who finished third after dreaming of victory for a long time.

Vingegaard remains in the pink jersey, arriving at the finish line with a gap of just a few seconds from the leaders. The race leader has more than a 4-minute margin over Gall and has long since mortgaged the victory. Thanks to today’s action, Ciccone is now leader of the Grand Prix de la Montagne, and he will wear the maglia Azzurra on Saturday.

Kuss commented happily on his victory, “The priority was to help Jonas Vingegaard take the Maglia Rosa. When they told me the other night that I would have a chance to be in the breakaway, I knew I had to take the chance. It is something I have always dreamed of, but every year it gets harder and harder. I continue to grow and improve, but so does everyone else.”

“I wasn’t entirely convinced that I would be able to get back on Giulio Ciccone, when he reached a one-minute lead I got a little discouraged. At that point I simply tried to focus on making the climb as fast as I could, it was a very steep climb. I knew my mother would be 500 meters from the finish, I want to dedicate a special thought to her and my whole family, because I only get to see them for a few weeks a year.”