Yates loses time as Del Toro closes in on Giro title

Isaac del Toro marginally extended his lead in the Giro d'Italia to set up a deciding penultimate day after Nicolas Prodhomme rode solo to success on stage 19.

Mexico's Del Toro sprinted to take second on the stage and gain two seconds on nearest rival Richard Carapaz, who finished third and is now 43 seconds behind overall.

Britain's Simon Yates was dropped late on and remained third, but trails the 21-year-old Del Toro in the leader's pink jersey by one minute and 21 seconds.

With the general classification battle not fully sparking into life, the three-week Grand Tour will be decided on Saturday's stage 20, which culminates in a gruelling 20km climb up the Colle delle Finestre.

Sunday's final stage is a processional route in Rome, with tradition dictating that the race leader at the start of the day will not be attacked.

France's Prodhomme was in the early breakaway and struck out alone on the penultimate climb with around 30km to go, before bravely hanging on to take his maiden Grand Tour stage win in Champoluc, just under a minute in front of Del Toro.

Visma-Lease a Bike rider Yates was visibly frustrated after finishing 24 seconds behind Del Toro in seventh.

"The plan was completely different from what we did today, so I will talk about that with the team," he told Eurosport.

"I will not say anything more about that."

However, team director Marc Reef said the day went "exactly as we agreed", and added Carapaz and Del Toro were "just a bit stronger".

Although Yates, 32, could still overhaul Carapaz and Del Toro, it looks most likely this year will again add to the heartbreak he has experienced in bids to win the Giro.

He led for 13 days in 2018 but cracked in the final week when Chris Froome launched an astonishing comeback to win the race.

After an underwhelming eighth-placed finish in 2019, Yates had to withdraw from the 2020 edition with Covid-19 and then had to recover from a difficult first two weeks to claim third in 2021.

Yates' twin brother Adam sat up and dropped out of the top 10 overall in order to save himself to help team-mate Del Toro on Saturday.

Ecuador's Carapaz, the 2019 Giro champion, tried to drop Del Toro on the final climb, but could not shake the 21-year-old, who is bidding to become the youngest winner of the Giro since 1940.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Del Toro, who won stage 17, showed impressive nous to grab the six bonus seconds for second place, with EF Education-EasyPost's Carapaz, 32, having to settle for four bonus seconds in third.