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“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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Austrian Felix Gall came fourth, 39 seconds off the lead with Vingegaard coming fifth in the same time.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old is bidding to become only the eighth rider to win cycling’s three Grand Tours.<\/p>\n
The penultimate stage on Saturday is another mountain stage, of 200km from Gemona del Friuli to Piancavallo, before Sunday’s final stage in Rome.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n