The 2019 Giro d’Italia has now come to a close, so the Twitterstream has been trawled for some pink tweets for the last time this season. We have the new champion and reactions from and about the final podium; we have the feel-good stories of the week with Esteban Chaves and Chad Haga; there’s a possible aftermath of the Lopez Goes Bonkers episode and Adam Hansen shares his vegan treats (not a euphemism). Plus much much more …
The 2019 Giro d’Italia ends on a feel-good note, with its final stage being won by Sunweb’s Chad Haga who was in the ITT hot seat for a looooooong time before he could celebrate his first GT victory – a very popular win with fans. Richard Carapaz (Movistar) made history as the first Ecuadorian Grand Tour champion as he sacrificed only 49sec to second-placed Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida). Mikel Landa lost his place on the podium by a heartbreaking 8sec, which flipped back to Primoz Roglic.
Stage 20 – the last day in the mountains for this year’s Giro d’Italia and with time to gain and podium places to maintain, we were hoping for some real fireworks. Well, we got them, although not in the form that we had anticipated. Incidents with overzealous tifosi saw both Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) lose time (although not in the same way) and on the day that Mikel Landa (Movistar) was #free, Pello Bilbao (Astana) decided to take the inside corner to take his second stage win of the Grand Tour. Richard Carapaz (Movistar) kept his cool and the maglia rosa, with a hefty lead on the eve before the final, decisive time trial.