Intro:

Colombia's Nairo Quintana showed off his climbing strength and increased his lead in the Giro d'Italia with a victory on Friday (30 May) in the 19th stage, a mountain time trial

Script:

Colombia's Nairo Quintana increased his lead in the Giro d'Italia with a victory 19th stage on Friday, in a mountain time trial.

The opening five kilometres of the time trial were flat but then the road tilted uphill dramatically, reaching a gradient of 14 percent at one point.

Many riders changed bikes after the flat section, going from a specialized time trial version to their regular road bikes for the climb. And Quintana even changed his helmet.

Quintana, the runner-up at last year's Tour de France, clocked 1 hour, 5 minutes, 37 seconds over the 26.8-kilometre route from Bassano del Grappa to Cima Grappa.

Italy's Fabio Aru finished second, 17 seconds behind, and Colombia's Rigoberto Uran was third. After his second stage win in this year's race, Quintana moved 3:07 ahead of Uran in the overall standings.

The race ends on flatter ground Sunday in the northeastern port city of Trieste.