Santiago Buitrago, winner of the queen stage of the Giro d’Italia

Colombian Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) paid tribute to himself on the Queen’s Day of the Giro d’Italia, winning alone after 183km and five climbs of the nineteenth stage, contested between Longarone and the Three Peaks of Lavaredo, where Slovenian Primoz Roglic he cut 3 seconds off British and pink jersey Geraint Thomas.

Technical draw between Thomas and Roglic, combative only with the goal in sight, a blow to Almeida, already far from pink, and glory to Santiago Buitrago from Bogotá, a 23-year-old boy who made the breakaway of the day well by his raising arms alone in Las Tres Cimas de Lavaredo, where his legendary compatriot Lucho Herrera raised them to the sky in 1989.

So many years later, Colombian cycling raised its voice on the same stage, also for the second time in this Giro, as Einer Rubio led the way by winning in Crans Montana. Buitrago, the top climber of the flight, showed strength and intelligence against Canadian Derek Gee, his rival in the last km, to attack 1.5 km from the top and take the spoils in 5:28:09 , with an average of 33.5 kilometers per hour.

Gee crossed the finish line after 51 seconds, sank after a very generous effort, and after 1.46 minutes the Dane Magnus Cort, both from the first break. The favorites only showed the fang at the end. Thomas attacked 1,000 meters from the line, it looked like he was going to gain a few seconds on Roglic, but it was the other way around with an acceleration from the Slovenian near the finish, who recovered 3 seconds. Almeida had a hard time and lost 23 seconds.

In this way, with the tables signed between the Giro’s high hierarchy, this Saturday’s race will be decided by a timer on a great circuit with time trials in the last 7.8 km out of a total of 18. Thomas, cold and calculating , arrives on the key date 26 seconds ahead of Roglic and 59 seconds ahead of Almeida.

Source: El heraldo

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