Stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia was supposed to be a big one for the pink jersey battle, with three Cat 1 challenges among the day's five categorized climbs in the Valle d'Aosta. But when the dust settled in Champoluc, the GC gaps were modest at best. For fans hoping for more action, and for GC hopefuls looking to dethrone Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), it was a bit of a disappointment.
For Del Toro, the relative calm on the GC front made stage 19 a smashing success.
Even as pre-race favorites like Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and his own teammate Juan Ayuso kept getting caught in or behind crashes, Del Toro hardly put a foot wrong through the first two weeks of the race, but it was hard to have too much faith in the Giro debutant with such grueling challenges looming in the final week. So far, however Del Toro has proved up to the challenge.
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