Colombian climber Esteban Chaves represented ORICA-GreenEDGE in the early breakaway on stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia.

Chaves made a move of nine riders after another intense start to racing and remained in the lead five over the first of three category one climbs before losing touch of the second.

In the finale, the general classification players came to the fore, Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team) launching an unchallenged solo attack on the final climb for victory.

“These last two mountain stages were always going to be in the hands of the general classification teams to determine if the breakaway was going to be successful or not,” sport director Matt White said. “It’s not so much about who made the break or how hard they went.

“Because there was so much flat before the big climbs, Astana didn’t let the break so too far and then had the numbers to control the final two climbs and bring it back together.

“Esteban had a really good go today and that’s all you can do. It was a good group of guys to get into but Astana just didn’t come to the party on what was a long long day on the road.”