(Reuters) – Alberto Dainese of Team DSM-Firmenich narrowly avoided a massive crash in the final kilometre to sprint to victory in stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana on Friday while Sepp Kuss of Jumbo-Visma finished safely in the peloton to retain the overall lead.
Once the riders rode through a final right-hand bend, they had a straight 2.2-km run to the finish line and that is where Kaden Groves, who has won two stages, was involved in a crash where several riders fell after a touch of wheels.
Filippo Ganna was in the ideal position at the front and opened up the final sprint but Dainese timed his sprint to perfection to edge out his fellow Italian by milliseconds.
“We did a super job… Today we executed the plan, 100%. I was really lucky,” Dainese said. “It was really unlucky to lose a couple of guys in the crash but until that point I was in the perfect position, I was where I wanted to be.
“I knew there was a bit of a headwind so I just let Ganna and the other guys go a bit early and then I was waiting for my moment to go in the wind. I’m super happy to finish a hard Vuelta in this way.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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