Giro d'Italia poised for nailbiting finale after Richard Carapaz retains narrow 3sec lead over Jai Hindley

• Koen Bouwman takes stage and all but seals mountains jersey

• Richard Carapaz retains lead ahead of final mountain stage

• Jai Hindley 3sec behind; Mikel Landa third at 1min 5sec

• Stage-by-stage details | Remaining riders | Latest results

• UCI WorldTour: Team-by-team guide to the 2022 season

Richard Carapaz kept hold of his leader's jersey at the Giro d'Italia after the Ineos Grenadiers rider matched his rivals pedal stroke for pedal stroke in the penultimate mountain stage of this year's race.

A dramatic finish to the 19th stage saw Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) clinch his second victory of the race.

The Dutchman crossed the line first at Santuario di Castelmonte after Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r-Citroën) and Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ) appeared to lose their race line as a consequence of Mauro Schmid (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) getting squeezed by Bouwman on the final corner.

Bouwman, who took the lead in the maglia azzurra standings for the best climber, finished ahead of Schmid and Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) after a breakaway stayed ahead of the pack.

Bouwman said: "After I won one stage I said anything else would be a bonus. Today I rode for the maglia azzurra (blue jersey) and I'm glad I secured it."

Schmid accused Bouwman of causing the incident that ended his hopes of contesting the sprint at the final corner, saying it was "not a fair sprint", but Bouwman said: "I knew about the last corner but I didn't expect it to be that sharp.

"I had to brake but it's great that I was in the best position there. That gave me the win. I'm delighted."

The main contenders all finished together, meaning Carapaz takes a 3sec lead over Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) into the final mountain stage on Saturday.

Carapaz was dealt a blow, though, with the retirement early on Saturday through illness of team-mate Richie Porte.

"It's been a pretty hard stage. It's a pity that we lost Richie Porte early in the race but the team has done a great job and Pavel Sivakov is in a great shape," Carapaz said. "All top three riders, were together. It's fine with me. Whatever happens tomorrow will be fine with me too."

The Giro continues with stage 20 on Saturday, the the 168km run from Belluno to Marmolada (Passo Fedaia), and concludes on Sunday.

Giro d'Italia stage 19: As it happened . . .

03:03 PM

Carapaz retains top spot to keep pink

No change in the general classification after Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) rolls over the finishing line ahead of Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), with Mikel Landa (Bahrian Victorious) next.

"It's been a pretty hard stage," Carapaz said shortly after keeping hold fo his leader's pink jersey. "It's a pity that we lost Richie Porte early in the race but the team has done a great job and Pavel Sivakov is in a great shape. All top three riders, were together. It's fine with me. Whatever happens tomorrow will be fine with me too."

03:02 PM

500 metres for the maglia rosa

Richard Carapaz, Jai Hindley and Mikel Landa approach the finishing line – and that, potentially, dodgy corner.

03:00 PM

Landa is caught

Jai Hindley, Richard Carapaz and Mikel Landa – the leading protagonists in the race for the pink jersey – are alongside each other. The Australian rises out of his saddle, but the Ineos Grenadiers man responds in kind. Both match each other pedal stroke for pedal stroke, while the Basque follows.

02:59 PM

Bouwman wins stage 19 at the Giro d'Italia!

Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) lands his second stage at this year's Giro d'Italia on a day that also saw the Dutchman all but seal the mountains jersey. Mauro Schmid (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) took second, while Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) was third.

Not entirely sure what happened there, but it looks as if Bouwman went slightly tight across the wheel of Schmid on the left-hand corner going into the final straight. As a result, the Swiss lost his momentum – perhaps after having feathered his brakes – slightly before inadvertently guiding Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r-Citroën) and Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ) off course and down what I think was the deviation around 150 metres from the finishing line.

Valter looks furious, violently bashing his handlebars, before finishing fourth. Vendrame looks pretty miffed, too, and is fifth.

02:58 PM

Landa is free!

Mikel Landa has attacked and is setting off up the road, the Spaniard is gaining on Richard Carapaz and Jai Hindley.

02:57 PM

Carapaz attacks!

But Jai Hindley is straight onto the maglia rosa's wheel. Mikel Landa follows.

02:56 PM

500 metres to go

Mauro Schmid leads, the remaining four sat on his wheel, watching and waiting.

02:56 PM

1km to go

Attila Valter floats up and down to group, as if to survey his rivals. He then sits back down, tucked in at fifth wheel behind Koen Bouwman.

02:53 PM

1.5km to go

Back in the peloton, Pavel Sivakov has put the hammer down. Jai Hindley is isolated. At the front of the race Alessandro Tonelli leads, Attila Valter is at fourth wheel while Andrea Vendrame hangs at the rear of the slow-moving group.

02:52 PM

2km to go

Andrea Vendrame is dropped, before once again he fights back on.

02:51 PM

2.3km to go

Ben Tulett, the 20-year-old from Sevenoaks, leads the peloton. Attila Valter kicks, but the Hungarian is unable to dent his rivals' hopes.

02:50 PM

2.8km to go

Koen Bouwman attacks, Attila Valter counters. As a result of those attacks, Andrea Vendrame is dropped . . . but then he mages to claw his way back. As you were.

02:49 PM

3km to go

Alessandro Tonelli kicks, but is marked out by Mauro Schmid before the Italian eases off the pedals.

02:48 PM

3.5km to go

The breakaway is riding cat-and-mouse, nobody prepared just yet to show their cards. Some of them are riding in the big ring, suggesting it is not as steep as predicted. Andrea Vendrame is the fastest man in this group if it comes down to some sort of sprint.

02:46 PM

4km to go

Koen Bouwman leads the five-man group beneath the 4km to go arch. Further down the road and Jonathan Castroviejo is drilling it as the reduced peloton hits the bottom of the climb.

02:45 PM

4.5km to go

Over the lip that leads into the short descent before the road kicks up again. All as one in the breakaway group where riders are watching each other closely.

02:44 PM

5km to go

Ineos Grenadiers ride on the front of the peloton, along with Trek-Segafredo and Bahrian Victorious, while Bora-Hansgrohe have drifted back a few wheels, possibly as Jai Hindley prepares to launch himself?

02:42 PM

5.5km to go

Attila Valter loses the wheel of Koen Bouwman who pushes on with Alessandro Tonelli.

02:41 PM

6km to go

Andrea Vendrame is hanging in there on this tough climb, with the gradient going up and down – these types of climb can be very difficult, impossible even, to find a steady rhythm.

02:39 PM

7km to go

Koen Bouwman rides on the front of the five-man breakaway, the Dutchman followed closely by Attila Valter, Mauro Schmid, Alessandro Tonelli and Andrea Vendrame. The maglia rosa is at 8min 30sec.

02:37 PM

8km to go

All change on the front of the peloton with Jonathan Castroviejo taking over for Ineos Grenadiers. Riders in the breakaway are emptying their pockets in preparation of this short and steep Santuario di Castelmonte climb.

02:33 PM

10.5km to go

Both Jai Hindley and Richard Carapaz have three team-mates apiece. Is Hindley going to launch an assault on the maglia rosa? The waay his team has ridden today would suggest he is feeling strong, beat him by a handful of second today and he could become the new race leader. I think the fact that he finished as runner-up in 2020 helps his cause, he has already finished on the podium and so only has his eyes focused on one thing: the overall title. As he said earlier in the week, he is "not here to put socks on centipedes."

02:29 PM

14km to go

Bora-Hansgrohe briefly fan out across the road, before Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa) clips off the front. Not sure why, the move comes to nothing.

02:25 PM

18km to go

All calm in the leading group as a couple of the riders take on some late liquids from their respective team cars. Now is the time for a gel and to take on some energy drink, water or whatever their preferred choice of hydration is. This will be a very nervous time for these riders ahead of what I am hoping will be an almighty battle on the Santuario di Castelmonte climb.

02:21 PM

21km to go

The five-man breakaway has a lead of 6min 50sec and have completed almost all of the descending in today's stage – other than the small dip around 3km into the final climb – and are onto the valley road that leads into the category two Santuario di Castelmonte.

02:16 PM

25km to go

The five men of Koen Bouwman, Mauro Schmid, Alessandro Tonelli, Attila Valter and Andrea Vendrame – three of whom have Giro d'Italia stage wins on their respective palmarès – are working well together. But sure that will all change in around 15km when the breakaway reaches the final climb of the day.

Tonelli and Valter, by the way, are the riders who have never won a stage at the Giro. In fact, Tonelli has won just one race, a stage at the Tour of Croatia, while Valter has not won outside of his native Hungary.

02:10 PM

30km to go

Just one more climb to follow, the category two Santuario di Castelmonte which has a very steep start, then drops down after around 3km. There's a very steep section that pitches up to 13% which may be a perfect launchpad for both the stage winner – I am assuming he will come from this five-man breakaway – and anybody hoping to gains some time on general classification. Remember, just 3sec separate Richard Carapaz and Jai Hindley.

02:06 PM

33km to go

The peloton is on this descent now, but as we saw (well, we didn't actually see it) with Andrea Vendrame this is a fast section and so everybody will need to be on high alert.

02:05 PM

Hello, what's this?

Out of nowhere, Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r-Citroën) has caught and ridden straight past the stage leaders. The Italian must have caught up on the descent, then pounced up the inside of Attila Valter. The Groupama-FDJ rider was caught out and had to work hard to chase back on after a small gap was created following the surge created by an aggressive looking Vendrame

01:59 PM

Valter getting his wish?

01:57 PM

40km to go

The four-man breakaway descends off the Kolovrat, trees overhead and on narrow, twisty roads, they push on with an advantage of 8min 2sec, Bora-Hansgrohe are down to three riders on the front of the peloton with Jai Hindley, have they done too much work too soon?

01:54 PM

43km to go

Koen Bouwman adds another 40 points to his tally in the mountains classification. That's the jersey sealed, he is mathematically out of reach of anybody in this race – all he needs to do is complete the race on Sunday to become the first Dutchman to win that competition.

01:51 PM

44km to go

There are 40 points up for grabs in the mountains classification at the summit of this climb.

01:48 PM

45.5km to go

Alessandro Tonelli has fought his way back onto the back of the leading group. Edoardo Zardini has not given up the chase, but he's gained the sum total of around 15sec on the Bora-Hansgrohe-powered peloton who continue to set a fierce pace with four riders protecting Jai Hindley.

01:44 PM

46.5km to go

A slight acceleration from Attila Valter is enough to shell Alessandro Tonelli. Koen Bouwman takes over on the front ahead of Mauro Schmid. Some rather over enthusiastic fans get a little too close to Valter who raises his hand to let them know he needs some space. Bouwman is riding with a very smooth cadence, a real natural on this steep, steep climb.

01:41 PM

47km to go

01:38 PM

48km to go

Decent crowds out up near the summit of this tough, though, climb. Plenty of Slovenian flags out, but only one of their countrymen in the race – Domen Novak (Bahrain Victorious) today. The peloton trails the leading quartet by a shade below 9min.

01:33 PM

50km to go

Flick of the left elbow from Koen Bouwman lets Mauro Schmid know it is time for the Swiss to roll on through. Alessandro Tonelli and Attila Valter sit in the wheels. Further down the road and Edoardo Zardini (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli) has clipped off the front of the peloton, but not sure what he expects to do – he is trailing the stage leaders by around 8min 30sec.

01:27 PM

51km to go

And then there were four: Koen Bouwman, Mauro Schmid, Alessandro Tonelli and Attila Valter lead the stage after Magnus Cort and Andrea Vendrame are dropped. Is today the day that Hungarian rider Valter, who wore the leader's pink jersey at last year's race, takes his first WorldTour race win?

01:26 PM

51.5km to go

As the road ramped up, more riders were shelled from the breakaway leaving six – Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma), Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost), Mauro Schmid (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl), Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane), Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ) and Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r-Citroën) – out in front.

01:19 PM

53km to go

The breakaway has entered Slovenia where the riders will tackle the Kolovrat climb. Edoardo Affini has peeled off the front, as has Clément Davy, Fernando Gaviria and Edward Theuns as the road starts to ramp up this brute of a climb. At 10.4km it is far from the longest climb in this year's race, but with an average gradient of 8.9% – including pitches up to 15% – it is one of the most testing.

01:12 PM

58km to go

The pace being set by Edoardo Affini and Davide Ballerini has seen the breakaway's advantage grow out a little to a shade below nine minutes now.

01:08 PM

62.5km to go

Not too much of a change on the front of the race. Probably worth pointing out that Davide Ballerini has been doing most of the riding, while Edoardo Affini has been lending a helping hand. Their advantage is holding at around the 8min 30sec mark. The former is hoping team-mate Mauro Schmid can open up his valves on the final two climbs, while Affini will want to see Koen Bouwman clip off and extend his lead in the mountains classification further still. If my calculations are correct, the Dutchman can secure the jersey today – providing he completes the race within the time limit in Verona on Sunday.

01:03 PM

Forza Italia!

12:56 PM

75km to go

Onto a sweeping descent – not too steep or technical – and Bora-Hansgrohe are driving the pace on the front of the peloton. Although they have not dropped Richard Carapaz – and in all probability are not trying to – each additional effort the maglia rosa and his team-mates take will have a cumulative impact come the final stage today. Any increased fatigue may also come home to bite Carapaz on Saturday afternoon, or even during Sunday's time trial in Verona. I'm not too sure what Bora-Hansgrohe are thinking about, but the way they are riding would suggest Jai Hindley is feeling good and is ready to attack the pink jersey.

12:48 PM

Porte abandons

The Ineos Grenadiers mountain goat Richie Porte has abandoned the Giro d'Italia.

12:43 PM

83.5km to go

Koen Bouwman extends his lead in the mountains classification after he drifts off the front of the breakaway unchallenged to crest the Passo di Tanamea and add another nine points to his tally.

12:40 PM

85km to go

The advantage of the breakaway has dropped further still, to 8min 18sec, thanks to all of the heavy lifting being done by Jai Hindley's gregari

12:32 PM

Porte has 'gastro' issues

Bradley Wiggins, on reporting duty for Eurosport, just told viewers Richie Porte shouted out to him on a hairpin bend, telling the former Tour de France winner he had "gastro" issues. Presumably he knew this at the start of the day, and is hoping to just get through the day and hopefully recover overnight ahead of Saturday's monster stage.

12:29 PM

90km to go

Bora-Hansgrohe have six rider on the front of the peloton, followed by Ineos Grenadiers and then Bahrain Victorious. Thanks to the pace being set by Jai Hindley's team, a split in the group has formed with the peloton now comprising around no more than 30 or so riders.

12:22 PM

92.5km to go

Having descended off the Villanova Grotte, the road has started to rise on the approach of the next climb, the category three Passo di Tanamea. Bora-Hansgrohe continue to ride on the front of the peloton. The breakaway leads by a shade below 9min. We will be seeing two big battles today: one for the stage victory, another in the general classification. It will be fascinating to see what Bora-Hansgrohe have planned, and also wondering if Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) is going to launch an assault on Jai Hindley. The Basque is third, but has almost 5min over Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan) and so can afford to throw a Hail Mary – either today or tomorrow – given that third place is relatively safe.

12:19 PM

Porte in a world of misery

12:11 PM

102.5km to go

It will surprise nobody to discover that Koen Bouwman too maximum points – nine – atop the Villanova Grotte, a result that sees the Jumbo-Visma extends his lead in the mountains competition.

However, you may be surprised to hear that Richie Porte (Ineos Grenadiers) has been dropped, meaning maglia rosa Richard Carapaz will be a man down later in the stage. Porte, of course, is a key rider for Carapaz in the high mountains and this is widely expected to be his final grand tour before he retires at the end of the season. Is this the end of the road for the Australian? Is this advantage to his compatriot Jai Hindley? Only time will tell.

12:04 PM

104km to go

The breakaway is onto the first categorised climb of the day, the category three Villanova Grotte which is just 3.7km long, but with an average gradient of 8.4% and pitches up to 14% this is a toughie. Suspect Koen Bouwman will be targeting  the points here, which would see him extend his lead in the mountains classification.

12:00 PM

As it stands . . .

A decent-sized breakaway group comprising 12 riders – Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r-Citroën), Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma), Davide Ballerini (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl), Tobias Bayer (Aplecin-Fenix), Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma), Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost), Clément Davy (Groupama-FDJ), Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), Mauro Schmid (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) and Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ) – formed fairly early into the stage. The highest-placed rider on general classification is Bouwman, the Dutchman that leads the mountains classification, at 1hr 2min 1sec and so, unsurprisingly, the peloton appeared happy enough to let that group ride off before building up an advantage of almost 12min.

There are some strong riders in the breakaway, including Affini who today has a red bib number after winning the vote for being the most aggressive rider in yesterday's stage. Affini, alongside Cort, was part of the four-man breakaway on Thursday that went all the way to the line where they denied the sprinters. Speaking of sprinters, Gaviria managed to get into this 12-man group and once they reached the first intermediate sprint of the day the Colombian pressed on, crossing the line to add 12 points to his tally and leapfrog former team-mate Mark Cavendish (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) in the points classification.

Ineos Grenadiers spent a long period riding on the front of the peloton, looking relatively happy for the breakaway to gaine more and more time on them, before they were replaced by Bora-Hansgrohe who appeared to have a plan tucked up their short sleeves. I'm just not sure what that plan is right now.

With 105km of the stage remaining, the break way leads by 9min 34sec.

08:00 AM

What's on today's menu?

So, what does the stage look like?

Here's what the roadbook says about the stage...

Live commentary from stage 19 to get under way at 1pm (BST).

08:00 AM

Catch up: Highlights from Thursday's stage

The predominantly flat 156km run from Borgo Valsugana to Treviso should have been one for the sprinters, and the last bunch gallop of this Giro, but their squads got their sums wrong as the breakaway stayed clear, with former Belgium national champion Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) beating Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma), Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) and Davide Gabburo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) to the line. For the sprinters it was agony. By contrast, De Bondt was in ecstasy. "It's my first win in a grand tour, I can't believe it," De Bondt said. "It was a dream to achieve a win like this."

08:00 AM

Ciao!

Hello and welcome to our live rolling blog from stage 19 at the Giro d'Italia, the 178km run from Marano Lagunare to Santuario di Castelmonte.

Following yesterday's stage which was anything but a regulation stage – it was pencilled down as one for the sprinters, but won by breakaway rider Dried De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) – the peloton returns to the mountains today. With the general classification evenly poised with just 3sec separating race leader Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), while Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) is just 1min 5sec off the pace. Before we have a look at today's stage, here are the standings:

Carapaz will be be dressed in the maglia rosa – the leader's pink jersey – for the fifth consecutive day. The Ecuadorian, however, is holding on to that jersey by the narrowest thread.

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) will again wear the maglia ciclamino (cyclamen jersey) as overall leader in the points classification, a competition the Frenchman won in 2020 and appears poised to win again providing he completes the race.

There were no changes atop the mountains classification so Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) retains the maglia azzurra, or blue jersey.

After Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) abandoned ahead of stage 18, former maglia rosa Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo) was installed as the new leader in the youth classification and will again wear the maglia bianca, the white jersey.