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100th Giro d’Italia Stage 20: small gains for Quintana as Pinot triumphs

Dumoulin well-positioned to win the 2017 Giro in time trial finale

On the final mountain stage of the 2017 Giro d’Italia, pink jersey Nairo Quintana could not snatch the additional time he needed to keep Tom Dumoulin at bay before Sunday’s time trial finale. Quintana finished with a group of five favourites, including stage winner Thibaut Pinot, 15-seconds ahead of Dumoulin to lift his lead to 53-seconds.


The Route and the Situation

The final mountain stage of the 2017 Giro had three ascents: a Cat. 4 at the 36-km mark, Cat. 1 Monte Grappa midway through the 190-km and the Cat. 1 climb to Foza that crested 15-km from the finish in Asiago.


Quintana needed more of a gap over Tom Dumoulin to counter the time that the Dutchman would surely take back on Sunday. The Colombian also needed to keep an eye on Vincenzo Nibali, only five-seconds behind Dumoulin. Nobody could discount Pinot, 53-seconds behind Quintana.

One top-10 player wouldn’t be in the mix on Saturday. Steven Kruijswijk (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo), who experienced such heartbreak last season when a crash scuppered his lead, ultimately placing him in fourth, became sick overnight and had to withdraw. Kruijswijk also had to abandon last year’s Vuelta a España after he crashed into a bollard.


Soon after the gun, a sextet of fugitives shrugged off the confines of the peloton. Sixty kilometres into the route, with Filippo Pozzato having bagged the KOM on Cat. 4 Ca’ Del Poggio, the gap was 5:00.

Grappa

On Monte Grappa, 24-km of 5.3%, Pozzato lost contact. A big acceleration from fifth place Ilnur Zakarin greatly diminished the pink jersey group. Adam Yates, Bauke Mollema and now 10th place Davide Formolo created a chase squad to try to come back before the peak.

Up front there were only two escapees left, and the elite selection was drawing closer. Yates, Mollema, Pinot’s fine Swiss lieutenant Sebastian Reichenbach and CCC’s impressive Czech Jan Hirt all latched back on. Serial fugitive Dries Devenyns (Belgium/Quick Step) was first over Grappa.

Foza

The last mountain of the 100th edition stands 14.05-km of 6.7%, with two mild opening kilometres and many hairpins. Would the attackers wait for the 11% section with 4-km left to climb?


The Movistar-led peloton had ballooned on the descent of Grappa. Two riders still ground on out front with a 2:45 buffer. Dylan Teuns (Belgium/BMC) left his compatriot Devenyns behind. Could he hang on to give BMC its third stage win of the race?

Nibali attacked once the easier section was over. Almost immediately Dumoulin was dropped but patiently bridged back. Next it was Zakarin and sixth place Domenico Pozzovivo who buzzed away. When Quintana accelerated only Nibali could match him.

The Italian-Russian duo breezed by Teuns. Pinot caught up to Nibali and Quintana, but the trio wasn’t putting Dumoulin out of sight. Just as Dumoulin and several others returned, Pinot charged again. All the faces were weary. With all the action in the group, it was easy to forget that Pozzo and Zakarin still led.

Pinot, Nibali and Quintana were only 11-seconds ahead of Dumoulin, Bob Jungels and a handful of others as the KOM point loomed.

The Last 15-km

It seemed unlikely that the trio would be able to stay away from the Dumoulin chase on the 15 rolling kilometres to Asiago. Pozzovivo probably wouldn’t be able to stay with Zakarin either.

With 10-km to go, the leading two and the three-man chase came together. Dumoulin, Jungels and Mollema pursued. Edge of the seat time.


As expected the gap shrank, with Quintana having to do the majority of the work. Pozzovivo trickled off the back with Nibali surged. With a kilometre to go, the gap was 20-seconds. Pinot dug deep, very deep to take his first Giro win and the maximum bonus seconds, jumping up onto the podium. Zakarin was second and Nibali third, with no bonus seconds left for Quintana. Dumoulin, Jungels et al finished 15-seconds back.

Michael Woods was 42nd, finishing in a group with teammate Pierre Rolland 12:32 in arrears.

It will be an exceedingly hard task for Quintana to stave off Dumoulin in the nearly 30-km chrono, and there’s a good chance that Nibali will ensure that the Colombian stands on the lowest step of the podium in Milan. The young rider competition between Adam Yates and Bob Jungels, 28-seconds back of the Brit, will also be a hot one.

2017 Giro d’Italia Stage 20
1) Thibaut Pinot (France/FDJ) 4:57:58
2) Ilnur Zakarin (Russia/Katusha) s.t.
3) Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Bahrain-Merida) s.t.
42) Michael Woods (Canada/Cannondale) +12:32

2017 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) 90:00:38
2) Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Bahrain-Merida) +0:39
3) Thibaut Pinot (France/FDJ) +0:43
4) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Sunweb) +0:53