Stage 20 of the Giro d’Italia didn’t deliver any GC fireworks but we were treated to a win for Bahrain-Victorious’s Damiano Caruso. The man who came to support Mikel Landa swapped his bridesmaid’s dress for a full bridal gown (with bouquet!) and soloed to victory, cementing his podium place in the process. Some huge turns from Ineos’s super-domestiques ensured that Egan Bernal was safe and sound. It’s all but certain he’ll be on the top step of the podium when the Giro finishes tomorrow.
Stage 16 of this year’s Giro should have been the Queen Stage. However, due to weather concerns and a meeting between the organisers and the riders, the stage was cut to 155km and only two classified climbs, instead of four. Bad flying conditions meant that the TV transmitters were not in place to relay the race pictures, so we were tantalised with only 4G patches. The last rider we saw on the mountain was Egan Bernal attacking out of a GC group. The first rider we saw come round to the finish line was the same. And the GC group had quite the shake-up.
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Last year, it was Mads Pedersen‘s second place in the Ronde van Vlaanderen … will he get it again this year, but this time for the rainbow jersey? Or will Alberto Bettiol win for his surprise Ronde win? There was a mystifying transfer, a big race disappearing and a lot of conflicting testimony … It’s time to vote for your Surprise of the Year …
Voting ends on 14 December 2019 at 11.59PM, GMT. If you think there’s someone who should be on the list, there’s a write-in option on the poll at the bottom of the post!