15 Sep 2023

Ganna second after super teamwork

Related riders

Stage 19 » La Bañeza › Íscar, 177.1km

Filippo Ganna sprinted to a second place finish after strong teamwork navigated a speedy finale in Iscar on stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana.

The 177 kilometre stage was mostly uneventful for the Grenadiers, who, with under 10 kilometres remaining, began their leadout.

Egan Bernal set the initial pace, before Jonathan Castroviejo set a furious tempo on the run-in, before swinging off to allow Geraint Thomas to the front.

Thomas would do a monster turn, keeping the Grenadiers safe in the crash marred finale.

Ganna was able to move up to sprint thanks to a leadout from Omar Fraile and Kim Heiduk, who positioned the Italian for the final sprint won by Alberto Dianese (Team dsm - firmenich).

Results

1. Alberto Dainese (DSM-Firmenich)
2. Filippo Ganna
3. Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost)
4. Davide Cimolai (Cofidis)
5. Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar)

Reaction

Geraint Thomas:

“I thought let’s just get stuck in. Castro was really strong. I tried to dig in and go as deep and as long as possible."

“It was an easy day compared to what we’ve done in this race, but there were a lot of tired guys. It was just about committing. It’s easy to go early and it’s hard to wait. We did go a bit early, but the commitment was there. Unfortunately Pippo didn’t quite finish it off, but it’s more down to us I think.”

Filippo Ganna:

“Today the guys have been fantastic. They took the head of the bunch immediately. We did a perfect job – it’s unlucky I’m not a sprinter!"

"When I saw the bunch coming back I asked Kim to go a little bit early, and at 300 metres to go I needed to start, as the speed was starting to die down. I lost another sprint by a little bit, I don’t know how much, but I don’t think it’s a lot.”