I’ll be watching stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia right from the start and you should too – here's why

If you’re thinking about watching stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia on Friday, you might want to think about tuning in right from the start.

Not only is stage 19 a blockbuster mountain affair with a five-star difficulty rating from the race organisers, but it also climbs right from the start, with precious few flat roads thereafter.

Such stages are usually ripe for chaos.

We are deep into a three-week race, when the peloton is depleted and the remaining legs are tired – that means it’s less likely to be controlled by one party. At the same time, there are still plenty of teams yet to get anything out of the Giro, so motivation will be high to go out and get a result today.

The terrain is there to exploit these dynamics – about as explosive as it gets, with an eye-watering 5,000 metres of elevation gain crammed into the space of just 166 kilometres. What that means is that the route is mostly going up or it’s going down, with a scarcity of the valley roads where the race tends to settle down.

The other key factor is the first climb of the day, which comes just 3.7km into the stage. A category-3 ascent at Croce Serra, it’s not hard enough to form a definitive escape, but it should play host to a barrage of attacks from the breakaway hopefuls.

There should be plenty of those; along with the stage hunters, the GC teams will likely have an eye on firing someone up the road to be used as a satellite rider for their leader later on, and the contenders a little further down the standings may sense an opportunity to sneak clear.

After the Croce Serra climb and its descent comes a 25km stretch in the valley - the only sustained flat section of the day - but here it’s likely that attacks will rain without anyone definitely getting away. The Col Tzecore, the first of the three category-1 climbs, is a more likely site for a break to finally form, being hard enough to force a true selection. Still, the race may not completely settle down.

What we’ve seen from Grand Tour stages through the years is that those with this sort of ingredients in the third week of a Grand Tour can explode from the gun, scattering riders over the route with precious little control in any of the groups. Race favourites can quickly be exposed and caught out, especially if their legs aren’t firing right from the start – that’s why most will be warming up on the rollers before the stage.

The route goes on to climb the Col Saint-Pantaleon and the Col de Joux, two long category-1 climbs, ahead of the late category-2 sting at Antagnod. It’s a gruelling day, which should spark drama between the pink jersey hopefuls, even if they’ll have one eye on the brutal Colle delle Finestre on stage 20.

We never used to see the opening kilometres of Grand Tour stages, but the rise in live streaming has opened up the fascinating early dynamics to our viewing pleasure, and stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia should be well worth the early start.

The GC situation

With three stages to go, the Giro d'Italia is perfectly poised. The two pre-race favourites – Primož Roglič and Juan Ayuso – have already gone home, throwing the race wide open.

Mexican youngster Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) still leads the way, but can he cling on amid the chase from more experienced riders behind?

Former Giro winner Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) is poised at 41 seconds, while Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike), who came close to winning the Giro in 2018, is a further 10 seconds back.

Where to watch stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia

Stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia is being broadcast in its entirety on many streaming platforms around the world on Friday.

UK: In the UK, live coverage of stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia starts at 11:00 BST on TNT Sports 3 and Discovery+, giving half an hour of build-up even before the riders reach kilometre zero for the start of the stage at 11:30 BST.

North America: In the US, stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia will be live streamed on Max, starting at 6am ET, while in Canada Flobikes’ coverage starts shortly after.

Australia: In Australia, you can watch stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia for free on SBS On Demand, with coverage starting at 8:10pm AEST, 20 minutes ahead of the official start of the stage.

Free: You can watch stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia in many countries, such as Australia as outlined above, but also Italy, Belgium Switzerland, and more.

Watch from anywhere: Use a VPN to unblock your usual streaming services while abroad.

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What time is stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia on?

After a short neutralised start, stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia officially gets underway at 12:30pm local time (CET), which is 11:30 BST or 06:30 ET.

The earliest predicted finish time for stage 19 is 16:57 CET, or 15:57 BST, or 10:57 ET.

All major broadcasters in the UK, US, and Australia have live coverage from the start.