Ineos Grenadiers had a nearly perfect Giro d'Italia through stage 19, and Richard Kalapas enters the final weekend in Maglia Rosa. However, Bora-Hansgrohe has been tormenting the peloton in the high mountains, and Pavel Sivakov said that pressure may have been a contributing factor to his crash on Friday.

After losing Richie Porte early in the stage, and after the Australian reportedly vomited while riding behind the peloton before eventually abandoning, Sivakov was heartbroken mid-stage when Jai Hindley's teammate was setting the pace.

"I think I need to put stabilizer wheels on my bike," he said. 'My front wheel got a flat tire,' he said. Most of the racers are running tubeless [tires] now, but it's really unstable. I was calling the bike with one hand, and as you can see, I lost my front wheel.

Sivakov, one of the key support riders in the mountains of Calapaz, was able to return to the peloton and pick up the pace on the final climb. But his anger cost him in the form of a UCI fine for "inappropriate behavior towards the commissaires" in an incident that took place out of sight of the TV cameras.

"My legs were good and I was a little mad," he said. But I managed to pick it up and I think I did a good job in the end." I'm satisfied."

Bora-Hansgrohe, with Hindley three seconds behind Calapaz in the overall, pulled away from the front before the final climb and took control with just over 100km to go, making his presence ever-present on the winding, narrow roads of Kolovrat, the second and final climb.

"Congratulations. There was only one line at that point and a lot of stress.

"This could be another reason (for the fall). When you put pressure on people, you create opportunities for them. They don't want me to crash, but putting pressure on them is always good for creating adversity."