BRUSSELS - Colombian climber Santiago Buitrago won the toughest mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling race Friday but Briton Geraint Thomas retained the pink jersey as standings leader and is odds-on to win the Giro. Speedy Slovene Primož Roglič took three seconds from doughty Thomas, from Wales, and 23 seconds from the overall number three, João Almeida of Portugal.

 “Save the best for last,” may have been the organisers’ credo when they designed this edition of the Giro d’Italia. All the heavy stages were scheduled towards the last days of the tour and in each of these stages the last kilometres would be the heavier. In a cycling tour which lasts three weeks anything can happen during the last week. In 2018, British Chris Froome in the third week dethroned his fellow countryman Adam Yates who for two weeks had been dominating that Giro. In one mountain stage, Froome took almost 39 minutes from Yates.

 Friday’s mountain stage probably was the hardest of this Giro -perhaps only second to Saturday’s uphill time trial. The finish of stage 19 from Longarone to “Tre Cime di Lavaredo” has an iconic status. Belgian Eddy Merckx, the legendary cyclist who won the Giro five times, once said the “Tre Cime di Lavaredo” was the hardest climb he had ever done.

 At 111 km from the finish line, after several riders had vainly tried to break away from the peloton, a group of 15 riders got together. Meanwhile, in the peloton, Irishman Ben Healy repeatedly tried to attack French Thibaud Pinot’s KOM jersey.

 On the steep “Passo di Giau”, the breakaway group somewhat fell apart. But it was in the pouring rain on the “Passo Tre Croci” that three riders, Colombian Santiago Buitrago, Canadian Derek Gee and Danish Magnus Cort, managed to ride away.

 At the foot of the last climb, the “Tre Cime di Lavaredo”, Gee attacked. There were a lot of spectators on this notorious climb. Especially its last four km, with a gradient reaching 18 percent, would be spectacular. One kilometre behind the three breakaway riders, the entire top 10 of the general classification were following them at three minutes and 34 seconds. This meant that none of the overall contenders would be able to win the race and take precious bonification seconds.

 Climber Buitrago knew how to tackle this climb using Gee as a target. Finally, Buitrago sprinted past Gee to victory. Brave Gee for the fourth time in this Giro finished second.

 In the general classification race, consecutively Norwegian Andreas Leknessund (eight), German Lennard Kämna (sixth) and Irishman Eddie Dunbar (fourth) could not keep up with their fellow general contenders. Each of them would lose time in the general classification.

 Right before the final km, Slovene Primož Roglič attacked fiercely. Only British Geraint Thomas could follow him. Portuguese João Almeida initially could not follow Roglič and Thomas, but at his own pace later managed to join them. Also Dutch Thymen Arensman (nineth) and Italian Damiano Caruso (fifth) joined Roglič and Thomas.

 Then pink jersey Thomas himself attacked. Only Roglič could follow him. After Thomas seemed to have dropped Roglič, the latter came back and beat the former in a sprint. Roglič took three seconds from Thomas and twenty-three seconds from Almeida. Caruso, who finished together with Almeida, moved up one position in the general classification.

 Contrary to the anticipation, stage 19 did not stir the general classification. Perhaps Saturday’s decisive time-trial was the reason why none of the general contenders dared to attack early? The highly unusual time trial contains a long and excruciatingly steep hill on raw concrete during which each of the contenders may lose not only tiny seconds, but several minutes.

 The general standings (top 10) after stage 19:

 1. Geraint Thomas (GBR) INEOS Grenadiers

 2. Primož Roglič (SVN) Team Jumbo-Visma 0’26”

 3. João Almeida (PRT) UAE Team Emirates 0’59”

 4. Damiano Caruso (ITA) Bahrain – Victorious 4’11”

 5. Eddie Dunbar (IRL) Team Jayco AlUla 4’53”

 6. Thibaut Pinot (FRA) Groupama – FDJ 5’10”

 7. Thymen Arensman (NLD) INEOS Grenadiers 5’13”

 8. Lennard Kämna (GER) BORA – hansgrohe 5’54”

 9. Andreas Leknessund (NOR) Team DSM 6’08”

 10. Laurens De Plus (BEL) INEOS Grenadiers 7’30”