Sepp Kuss conquered the Dolomites on stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia to take a debut stage win at the Italian Grand Tour after a dramatic Friday.
The American outlasted the rest of his breakaway companion to triumph atop the Piani di Pezzè as his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Jonas Vingegaard all but sealed overall victory at the Giro.
Behind, Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) was second, gaining time on his other general classification rivals, as Giulio Ciccone, also of Lidl-Trek, finished third. It looked like a time that Ciccone would take the stage win, after he launched a move over the penultimate climb of the Passo Falzarego, having already taking the maximum mountains points over the top of the Passo Giau. Ciccone therefore won the Cima Coppi, the prize for conquering the highest point of the Giro.
However, Kuss rode hard in the valley and caught his Italian rival on the climb to be along in the last kilometre.
“Not especially,” Kuss said when asked whether he thought he would catch Ciccone. “I knew he would accelerate over the top for the mountain points, and it looked like he was already slowing up, but then he looked and there was a gap, and by the bottom of the climb he had a minute, and I thought it was over.
“To be honest, I was a bit demotivated because I thought it was over, but I just tried to focus on doing the fastest time possible, on a steep climb. A nice one for me.”
“To be honest, it was never the primary goal, the main challenge was to win the pink jersey with Jonas,” he said. “So far it’s looking good, but when they told me the other night that I had the chance to go in the break I knew I had to seize the opportunity.”
Vingegaard finished alongside Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), to also gain on GC. Hindley replaced Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) on the podium, while Gee replaced former pink jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) in the top five.
On the final climb, Gall attacked but was matched on every pedal stroke by Vingegaard, who has a four-minute advantage on him, while Hindley followed, all moving away from Arensman, who lost just over a minute to the trio.
After stage wins at both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, as well as the overall at the latter, Kuss added a Giro stage to his palmarès to complete the set.
His victory also meant that a rider in the yellow of Visma-Lease a Bike (four for Vingegaard, now one for Kuss) has won every mountain-top finish of this year’s Giro, in a clear representation of the team’s dominance at this year’s Giro.
Kuss joined the day’s large breakaway with around 100km to go on the first climb of the day, on the Passo Duran, which was around 26 riders. The race was shaken up on the next climb, the Passo Giau (9.8km at 9.3%), as GC contender Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) attacked, followed by Gee-West, which meant there was action with well over 50km left to go of the stage.
Gee-West was the main beneficiary of this, as he moved up on GC, and was close to stage winner Kuss. Ciccone gained mountains points too, as a result of his exploits, and moved into the lead of the blue jersey competiton.
“It was super hard, I was just going to stay with the GC guys and then Tudor pulled a good move with Michael jumping and then a bunch of their guys dropping back and pulling him across to the break,” Gee-West said. “To be honest, I thought we had the stage when Giulio went on the descent and there was a bit of disorder behind. Hats off to Sepp, he pulled in the valley, I was sitting in the wheels, and he still rode away from me.”
Saturday sees the last mountain day at this year’s Giro, a final chance for the GC to be shaken up.
Results
Giro d’Italia 2026, Stage 19: Feltre > Alleghe (Piani di Pezzè) (151km)
1. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike), in 4:28:33
2. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, 13s
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek), +36s
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +39s
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
6. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +43s
7. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:06
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:11
9. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +1:19
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, at same time
General Classification after stage 16
1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 75:13:16
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:03
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:04
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +5:33
5. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +6:31
5. Alfonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +7:26
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:50
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8:29
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +9:01
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +11:19
Explore More
