Carapaz survives final GC battle in the mountains to all-but secure Giro title as Bilbao wins stage

Protected by team mate, Mikel Landa, Carapaz out-rode his rivals in the penultimate stage and only a crash or unprecedented capitulation would loosen his grip on the trophy in Sunday’s finale.

Pello Bilbao (Astana Team) won the stage to make it two in the race for the Basque rider and put a positive spin on a day that had looked to have turned sour for his team when Miguel Angel Lopez was knocked off his bike by a fan and was involved in a physical altercation after the incident.

Carapaz, who did not come to the Giro with the leadership role at Movistar, has ridden a faultless Grand Tour, limiting his losses on the race’s first two time trials and taking time on the rare occasions the opportunity has presented itself. Today, he even managed to work for his team mate, Mikel Landa, in the closing kilometres, helping build the Basque rider’s advantage over Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and effectively placing him onto the podium. Whether the notoriously time trial-averse Landa will remain in the top three this time tomorrow is less certain than Carapaz’ overall victory.

It was a queen stage that promised fireworks, but truthfully delivered only in fits and sparks.

The breakaway was established on the day’s first classified climb, with no hostilities in the peloton.

Andrey Amador (Movistar), Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec), Pello Bilbao and Dario Cataldo (Astana Team), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Merida), Eros Capecchi (Deceuninck QuickStep), Tanel Kangert (EF Education First), Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton Scott), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Team Dimension Data), Eddie Dunbar (Team INEOS), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha Alpecin) and Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb) were the leaders.

The general classification contest started to simmer on the Passo Manghen, with Miguel Angel Lopez putting in an excoriating attack to shake loose all but Landa and Carapaz. This followed on from a brutal period of pace setting by ‘Superman’s’ Astana team mates.

Immediately in trouble was Simon Yates (Mitchelton Scott), with Vincenzo Nibali (Team Bahrain Merida) and Roglic also slipping off the wheel under the sustained acceleration of the Colombian climber. Pavel Sivakov (Team INEOS), who has been one of the revelations of the Giro this year, was also dropped initially, but eventually managed to catch Nibali & Roglic, pass them, and cross the king of the mountain ahead of the two much more experienced stage racers.

Fausto Masnada attacked the break to take the Cima Coppi, the prize awarded each year for being first to cross Giro’s highest summit. This attack effectively spelled the end of the first break of the day.

After the Manghen came a descent, a valley and the comparatively benign Passo di Rolle. The riders in the GC battle seemed unwilling to strike any serious blows, choosing instead to reorganise their respective teams. This allowed dropped riders back into the peloton, including Yates, Nibali and Roglic. The attacks over the Manghen did, however, lead to the first break of the day being caught and a new group of leaders to be formed - with Bilbao, Ghebreigzabhier, Kangert, Dunbar, Capecchi and Nieve from the original breakaway joined by Valentin Madouas (Groupama FDJ) and Giulio Ciccone (Trek Segafredo).

This octet of riders worked well together, negotiating the descent to the start of the day's final pair of climbs safely and hitting the lower slopes of the Croce d'Aune with a healthy lead of about three minutes.

With two final climbs joined by a short descent, the stage was always going to come down to the one-two punch of the Croce d'Aune and the Monte Avena. It was here that the breakaway began to disintegrate, with attacks from the GC riders biting into the advantage.

As Nieve, Ciccone and Bilbao traded blows up front, Miguel Angel Lopez was once again the first rider to fire a shot across the bows of his rivals. The Colombian attacked right from the foot of the climb and immediately shed a lot of riders who had been just about hanging on.

Unfortunately, the Astana Team leader and current white jersey wearer was taken out soon after in a remarkable moment of chaos. A fan running alongside the riders, bounced into another spectator and out into the path of Lopez, knocking him from his bike.

The incident effectively ended Lopez' participation in the finale of the stage - he eventually rolled over the line 1'49" down after eventually climbing back onto his bike. There were even suggestions he may be disqualified from the Giro d'Italia, but at time of writing the Colombian remains in the race.

This wasn't the only moment of fan-related controversy. Primoz Roglic, already struggling in the early part of the stage, was assisted by two fans on the side of the road who pushed him along to keep him in contact with the GC favourites on the Croce. The jury has penalised the rider 10 seconds for not making sufficient effort to discourage the spectators. Despite the assist, Roglic lost touch with the leaders and battled hard to limit his time losses.

With attacks from Nibali and the Movistar duo quickly closing the gap to the break, they eventually joined together in one leading group. Carapaz, Nibali and Landa - incentivised by Roglic losing ground, pushed on to maximise the damage.

It was Carapaz who rode on the front for the final few hundred metres, with the aim of leading out Landa for a stage win and 10 bonus second on Roglic. Instead though, it was another Basque, Bilbao, who bagged the big result. Landa settled for second with Ciccone closing out the top three.

With just a 17km time trial route tomorrow, the time gap between Nibali and Carapaz is almost insurmountable. Likewise the gap from Landa to Nibali. Roglic, however, with the time lost today and his penalty deduction, is just 23 seconds down on third placed Landa. If Roglic recovers enough to perform as he can (and should) in his specialist discipline, it looks likely the Slovenian will once again step onto the podium.

Further down the top ten, Lopez' fan fracas means he now no longer has a shot of moving up in the overall, barring an absolutely dismal performance from Bauke Mollema in the TT. Simon Yates, meanwhile, could still strike at the sixth and seventh places of Lopez and Rafal Majka (Bora - Hansgrohe). The Bury-born rider has not had the Giro he had hoped he might and spoke frankly to Eurosport's Matt Stephens after the stage.