“At the bottom of the climb, he [Ciccone] had one-minute [lead] and I thought it was over. I just tried to focus on doing the finest climb as possible and I knew I had to push it all the way to the line.

“I knew my mother was going to be there standing 500 metres from the finish so a big shout out to her and my family. I only see them a few weeks every year so it’s really nice to have her and my friends there so this is for them.”

Stage 19 was a 151-km mountain stage from Feltre to Alleghe and Canada’s Derek Gee-West finished second, 13 seconds behind Kuss, with Italian Ciccone a further 23 seconds back in third place.

Austrian Felix Gall came fourth, 39 seconds off the lead with Vingegaard coming fifth in the same time.

That meant Denmark’s Vingegaard, who has twice won the overall Tour de France title and the 2025 Vuelta a Espana, maintained his advantage over Gall at four minutes and three seconds.

The 29-year-old is bidding to become only the eighth rider to win cycling’s three Grand Tours.

The penultimate stage on Saturday is another mountain stage, of 200km from Gemona del Friuli to Piancavallo, before Sunday’s final stage in Rome.