Alberto Dainese avoids crash to take Vuelta a Espana stage 19, Supp Kuss still leads

Alberto Dainese of Team DSM-Firmenich narrowly avoided a massive crash in the final kilometre to sprint to victory in stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana on Friday while Sepp Kuss of Jumbo-Visma finished safely in the peloton to retain the overall lead.

Once the riders rode through a final right-hand bend, they had a straight 2.2-km run to the finish line and that is where Kaden Groves, who has won two stages, was involved in a crash where several riders fell after a touch of wheels.

Filippo Ganna was in the ideal position at the front and opened up the final sprint but Dainese timed his sprint to perfection to edge out his fellow Italian by milliseconds.

"We did a super job. Today we executed the plan, 100%. I was really lucky," Dainese said. "It was really unlucky to lose a couple of guys in the crash but until that point I was in the perfect position, I was where I wanted to be.

"I knew there was a bit of a headwind so I just let Ganna and the other guys go a bit early and then I was waiting for my moment to go in the wind. I'm super happy to finish a hard Vuelta in this way."

Kuss, two stages away from winning his first Grand Tour, was all smiles as he retained the red jersey. He leads fellow Jumbo-Visma riders Dane Jonas Vingegaard (17 seconds) and Slovenian Primoz Roglic (68 seconds).

"These stages are more stressful now because normally I sit at the back and go to the finish line, but now there's a bit more to lose," Kuss said with a laugh.

"There was always an annoying wind from the side, it wasn't too easy but there's no easy day in the third week. Luckily I stayed out of trouble (when the other riders crashed)."