ROME: Britain’s Chris Froome produced an astonishing lone attack to roar into the overall Giro d’Italia lead on Friday, winning stage 19 with a performance that will go down in cycling folklore. The Team Sky rider started the 185km stage from Venaria Reale to Bardonecchia more than three minutes back in fourth place on the overall standings but finished 40 seconds ahead after leaving his rivals in his tracks with a searing burst of pace 80km from home on the Colle delle Finestre. It looked a huge gamble but Froome quickly pulled away and powered over the penultimate Sestriere climb before ascending the 7km Jafferau to the finish and slip into the Maglia Rosa for the first time in his glittering career. He will go into Saturday’s final mountain stage with a lead over second-placed reigning champion Dutchman Tom Dumoulin – an unthinkable situation 24 hours earlier. Long-time leader Simon Yates, who started the day three minutes and 22 seconds ahead of compatriot Froome, ended the stage with his Giro hopes in tatters after blowing up and finishing 35 minutes adrift in the general classification. Dumoulin began the day in second place, nearly three minutes ahead of Froome, but was left desperately trying to minimise the damage inflicted by the Briton on the final climb, although he received precious little help from the chasers. Published in Daily Times, May 26th 2018.