Koen Bouwman of The Netherlands claimed a second stage victory of this year's Giro d'Italia ©Getty Images

Koen Bouwman of The Netherlands edged past Swiss cyclist Mauro Schmid to claim a second victory of this year's Giro d'Italia on the 19th stage, while the general classification battle between Olympic road race champion Richard Carapaz and Jai Hindley looks set to go down to the wire.

It was a successful day's work for Bouwman, whose performance on the 178 kilometres mountain stage from Marano Lagunare to Santuario di Castelmonte all but clinched the mountains classification jersey.

The Jumbo-Visma rider was also victorious at stage seven, although the manner of his victory in 4hrs 32min 55sec angered Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl's Schmid.

"My opinion it was not a fair sprint," Schmid said after crossing the finish line in second, as reported by Eurosport.

"That’s pretty clear.

"Because my handlebars were in front and he [Bouwman] nearly crashed in the last corner.

"He knew that he was slower in the sprint so he pushed me away and I could do nothing.

"Second place is first loser so I’m not happy with that.

"I think I had it in the legs today so of course I’m disappointed."

Ecuador's Olympic champion Richard Carapaz, centre, retains a three-second lead over Jai Hindley of Australia, left, in the general classification ©Getty Images
Ecuador's Olympic champion Richard Carapaz, centre, retains a three-second lead over Jai Hindley of Australia, left, in the general classification ©Getty Images

The tight bend in the final 100 metres caught out Italy's Andrea Vendrame of AG2R Citroën and Attila Valter of Hungary and Groupama-FDJ, putting both of them out of contention.

Home favourite Alessandro Tonelli of Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè took advantage to take the final podium position in 4:32:58.

Valter came through in fourth and Vendrame in fifth, with the pair finishing six seconds and 10 seconds off the pace respectively.

Behind the five-rider breakaway, there was again no change in the battle for the pink jersey.

Ecuador's Carapaz of Ineos Grenadiers, bidding for a second overall Giro victory after his 2019 success, retains a three second lead after placing eighth in Santuario di Castelmonte.

Closest challenger Hindley of Australia and Bora-Hansgrohe was ninth, with third-placed Mikel Landa of Spain and Team Bahrain Victorious rounding off the top 10.

The trio finished three minutes and 56 seconds behind Bouwman.

Landa is one minute and five seconds adrift in the general classification, but has a lead of more than four minutes ahead of the retiring Vincenzo Nibali of Italy and Astana Qazaqstan Team, one of only seven cyclists in history to have won all three Grand Tours.

The contest between Carapaz and Hindley looks set to be decided in tomorrow's final mountain stage - 168km from Belluno to Marmolada - and the concluding 17.4km time trial in Verona on Sunday (May 29).