Giro d'Italia 2021: Britain's Simon Yates wins 19th stage, Egan Bernal stays strong atop leaderboard

Alpe di Mera: Britain’s Simon Yates launched a solo attack to win the 19th stage of the Giro d’Italia on the Alpe di Mera summit on Friday, but Egan Bernal stayed in the overall lead. Colombian Bernal, the 2019 Tour de France champion, finished third on the day to keep hold of the leaders’ pink jersey with only two stages remaining. He now leads second-placed Damiano Caruso in the general classification by two minutes and 29 seconds, with Yates 20 seconds further back. Ineos’ Bernal could all but seal his second Grand Tour title in Saturday’s 20th and penultimate stage, a mountainous 164km ride from Verbania to Valle Spluga. Yates, the 2018 Vuelta a Espana winner, kept his slim title hopes alive with an enterprising ride on Friday though. The 28-year-old BikeExchange rider finished 11 seconds clear of Joao Almeida of Portugal on the day and 28 seconds ahead of Bernal, while also collecting bonus seconds. It was Yates’ fourth Giro stage win but first on this year’s race, having claimed the other three in 2018 when he cracked on the 19th stage and blew a large overall lead. He laid some of those demons to rest, though, attacking more than six kilometres from the summit and comfortably pulling clear of Bernal. Italian Caruso remained on track for a surprise podium finish as he lost only eight seconds to Bernal on the day.