page_title: 2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
section_title: Stage 19
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21 / Stage 19
caption_attribution_description: English: Fabio Aru after finishing the final stage of the Tour of Austria in Vienna, Austria.
context_page_description: The 2015 Giro d'Italia began on 9 May, and stage 12 occurred on 21 May.
context_section_description: 29 May 2015 — Gravellona Toce to Cervinia, 236 km (146.6 mi)
  The penultimate mountain stage of this year's Giro is expected to feature one of the final showdowns between the main GC contenders. The first 151 kilometers of the stage is a bit hilly, featuring the third category climb of Croce Serra. The final 85 kilometers of the stage will be crucial as it features three first category climbs. The riders will have to tackle the climb of Saint-Barthélemy first. The ascent is almost 20 kilometers long with an average gradient of 6.7 per cent. Following the descent, the riders will climb the Col De Saint-Pantaléon which is 16.5 kilometers long and has an average gradient of 7.2 per cent. After another descent, the riders will climb to Cervinia with the finish line located at its summit at a height of 2001 meters. The final climb is not very steep, averaging only 5 per cent but it is 19.2 kilometers long. The hardest part of the climb comes at its middle section with an 8-kilometer section having an average gradient of around 7 per cent before the riders tackle three gentle kilometers to the finish in Cervinia. All but nine of the final 44 kilometers of the stage goes uphill.
  Another fast start to the stage prevented any breakaway from forming easily. After a while, eight riders broke clear from the peloton. The break was not allowed to build a large gap, however, as they only had a maximum advantage of around four minutes on the peloton. Astana soon took over the chase and the gap began to come down. On the first difficult climb of the day, the climb of Saint-Barthélemy, the break began to dwindle down as some of the breakaway riders dropped on the climb. From behind, Steven Kruijswijk and Beñat Intxausti attacked in a battle for the KOM competition. The duo built a short gap before dropping back with Intxausti taking more points at the summit of the climb. As the climb of Col De Saint-Pantaléon went underway, Movistar Team's Giovanni Visconti went off solo with Team Katusha's Pavel Kochetkov and Team Sky's Vasil Kiryienka chasing him. Kiryienka was caught on the climb while Visconti continued to stay up front with Kochetkov chasing him. Kochetkov slowly fell back while Astana-led peloton kept Visconti's advantage hovering around two minutes on the maglia rosa group. At the summit, Visconti took maximum points, taking over the lead in the KOM competition.
  On the short descent of the climb, Kochetkov only had a gap of around 20 seconds over the peloton while Visconti still had a lead of almost two minutes. As the riders reached the lower slopes of the climb to Cervinia, Kochetkov was caught by the Astana-led peloton while Visconti saw his advantage continue to shrink quickly. With around 10 kilometers left in the stage, Visconti was finally caught and several minutes later, Mikel Landa gave in a small dig at the front, followed quickly by maglia rosa wearer, Alberto Contador, and Ryder Hesjedal. After the trio were caught by a small number of riders, Hesjedal attacked and he quickly built a substantial advantage. Shortly after, Fabio Aru, who struggled in the previous mountain stages, attacked from a small chase group while Contador chose to mark Landa instead of chasing Aru. Aru quickly bridged over to Hesjedal and he immediately accelerated off the front, dropping Hesjedal in the process. Aru continued to increase his advantage to the line, soloing to a 28-second victory over Hesjedal. Rigoberto Urán, who also struggled in the previous mountain stages, crossed the line in third at 1' 10" down on Aru following a great ride while a chase group containing Contador, Landa, Kruijswijk and Tanel Kangert finished 1' 18" behind.
  Another strong ride from Hesjedal saw him rise to seventh in the GC standings while Aru regained his second place from his teammate, Landa, with an advantage of 38 seconds over his teammate but with a 4' 37" deficit to Contador, who continued to stay in pink with one final mountain stage and a flat stage remaining in the race.
caption: Fabio Aru resurrected and took the win
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