Thibaut Pinot reluctantly accepts Ben Healy's handshake gesture | Video

Thibaut Pinot looked in a bit of a mood, looking away from Ben Healy while accepting the Irishman's handshake gesture

Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) may have lost the king of the mountains jersey to Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) on the Giro yesterday, but the Irish rider wasn't giving up without a fight on today's stage 19.

After a 15-man breakaway group got up the road, Healy continued to try and get clear, hoping he could hoover up more points by catching the breakaway, thus taking back the jersey.

And with Pinot very much still in the general classification battle, and trying to save his legs the big summit finish, it was a chance worth taking by Healy. However, every time Healy attacked from the bunch, he was marked by the French rider.

Eventually, when Healy turned and saw Pinot on his wheel again - after they had distanced the peloton by over one minute - the Irishman turned and extended a handshake in the direction of his rival. While Pinot reciprocated, the emotional Frenchman turned his head to look away as the riders shook hands, much to the amusement of Healy.

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It appeared Healy was conceding the classification but shortly after they were caught by the bunch, Healy went again and was once more marked by Pinot. When they went back to the bunch again, Rohan Dennis (Jumbo Visma) seemed very amused by the situation and said after the stage he was encouraging Healy to attack Pinot yet again.

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Healy eventually finished 52nd on the stage - some 20:25 down on winner Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), with Pinot putting in a great ride; holding the climbers' jersey, finishing 9th on the stage and moving up one place to 6th.

"Healy didn't give me any gifts, I dropped a lot of bullets," Pinot said of having to mark Healy early in the stage, though he was trying to keep his powder dry for the summit finish. "I really had to refocus and not think about the efforts I could make compared to the others. You had to be careful, there were calculations to be made, it worked out pretty well."

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