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Yates drives away everyone – Bernal defends Rosa

WITHtwo days before the end of the 104th Giro d’Italia, professional cyclist Egan Bernal has overcome his short period of weakness and this time defended his overall lead without any problems. The 24-year-old Colombian finished the 19th stage on Friday after 166 kilometers from Abbiategrasso to the mountain arrival in Alpe di Mera, 28 seconds behind the British winner of the day Simon Yates in third place and leads the last two stages with 2:29 minutes before the Italian Damiano Caruso.

“I’m very happy, the team did a fantastic job,” said Yates after his victory: “I’ll keep trying to do my best.”

The third overall Yates was able to reduce his deficit on Bernal to 2:49 minutes after his fourth stage win on a tour of Italy. Yates had started an attack on the ten-kilometer final climb around six kilometers from the finish and won with an eleven-second lead over the Portuguese João Almeida and Bernal. On the 17th stage, Bernal was unable to follow his opponents on the final ascent and lost important seconds in the process.

Once again, it initially looked as if the 2019 Tour de France winner was having trouble following the top riders. He lost a few seconds at the foot of the climb. Then he fought his way back with the help of his teammates and lost only a little time. Bernal had said after the 17th stage that he still had problems with his back.

The 20th and penultimate stage starts on Saturday in Verbania on Lake Maggiore and ends after 160 kilometers at an altitude of 1727 meters in Alpe Motta. Before that, the San Bernardino Pass (2065 meters) and the Splügen Pass (2115) are on the program for the day, which mostly runs through Switzerland. The Giro will end on Sunday with a 30.3 kilometer individual time trial from Senago to Milan. The German tour hope Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) had to give up after a fall last Sunday.

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