Cerny prevails in a stage shortened by the rebellion of the platoon

The Czech Cyclist Josef Cerny (CCC) conquered this Friday in Asti (northwest) the nineteenth stage of the Giro d’Italia, shortened by about 130 kilometers after a protest movement by the platoon before departure.

Dutch Wilco Kelderman he kept the leader’s pink ‘jersey’ on the eve of the last mountain stage and two days before the end of the Italian round in Milan.

Cerny won alone with a twenty-second advantage over Belgian Victor Campenaerts at the end of the 124 kilometers, with a changed start from Morbegno to Abbiategrasso.

Shortly before the originally planned start, a majority of the peloton refused to contest the 258 kms, a very long distance in the third week of the race, although two teams invited by the organizers (Androni and Bardiani) were ready to pedal. In the middle of the chaos and under the incessant rain, the runners ended up getting on the buses of the different teams to go to the new starting point.

On the stage, a breakout of fourteen riders was formed in the first hour. The Bora team of Slovak Peter Sagan, looking for the points classification jersey, set off in pursuit before lifting their foot about 40 miles from the finish line. The gap grew rapidly between the head of the race and the peloton, which reached the finish line with a delay of close to twelve minutes.

The winner of the stage, Cerny, picked up a small group (Armée, Campenaerts, Clarke, Mosca, Pellaud) 23 kilometers from Asti and put himself in time trial mode until the finish. Fifth in the Valdobbiadene chrono last Saturday at the Giro, the 27-year-old Czech achieved the most important victory of his career this Friday.

On Saturday, the twentieth stage, which had to give up the main planned ascents (Agnel and Izoard above all) due to the rejection of the French authorities by the covid-19, will be 198 kilometers between Alba and Sestriere. This pass will be climbed three times and will create differences between the first three of the general classification (Kelderman, Jai Hindley, Tao Geoghegan Hart), who are currently in 15 seconds.