Dutchman Tom Dumoulin of Team Sunweb claimed his maiden grand tour title when he won the Giro d’Italia after crushing his main rivals in today’s final time trial.
Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) finished second overall, 31 seconds behind, and Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) took third place, 40 seconds off the pace.
“It’s really crazy, I cannot describe it with words. It was such a nerve-racking day but I did it, I had good legs,” said Dumoulin. The 26-year-old time-trial specialist turned grand tour rider had flagged himself up in 2015 when he took sixth place overall in the Tour of Spain.
He lost the Giro overall leader’s pink jersey on the 19th stage as he struggled in the final mountain stages but limited his losses to be in a good position for Sunday’s 29.3-km solo effort between Monza and Milan. Dumoulin finished second behind compatriot Jos van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo) in the stage to round off what a tearful Van Emden called “a great day for Dutch cycling”.
No Dutchman had ever won the Giro, which began in 1909 and this year reached its 100th edition.
Quintana, the overnight leader, held off last year’s winner Nibali, who kept his spot on the podium ahead of fourth-placed Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Russian Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha).
Team Sunweb coach Luke Roberts predicted that Dumoulin would only get better with the victory under his belt.
“He’s been going step by step and he’s a young guy with a big future ahead of him,” Roberts said.
“We’ve had 21 days of hard racing and (the win) was really overwhelming.”
Quintana, who finished 31sec behind in second overall, said he could have no complaints.
“I’m not disappoted at all really,” said the Colombian. “I don’t know if I could have done something better or worse during the Giro, but with Tom Dumoulin being so stong in the time trial, I think I deserve to be where I am.”
A two-time runner-up at the Tour de France, Quintana will now target the world’s most famous bike race in July, adding: “As usual, I’ll be going there to give it my all and try to win it.”
Nibali, who finished a disappointing 13th on the stage at 1:09 behind Van Emden to finish third overall at 40sec behind, became a key ally of Quintana’s in the mountains as they both tried to shake off the stubborn Dutchman in the final week.
But despite Dumoulin suffering “bad legs” on stage 19 to hand the pink jersey to Quintana, he would soon take it back after Nibali and Quintana’s combined efforts on Saturday ultimately failed.
“Energy was spent,” said Nibali, the 2015 Tour de France champion who won the race in 2013 and 2016. Nibali, though, claimed the inclusion of two time trials in the 100th edition – totalling 69.1km – had favoured Dumoulin.
“It was the time trials that really tipped the balance in this Giro,” added the Italian, who won a thrilling stage 16 into Bormio in which Dumoulin was forced to chase frantically over the last climb of the Stelvio after suffering an embarrassing, unscheduled toilet stop.
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