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Watch: Dumoulin’s nature break sparks Giro controversy

Race leader pulls over and rivals attack on Umbrailpass

On the second ascent of the Umbrailpass on the Giro d’Italis’s queen stage, Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) was forced to pull over on the side of the road when nature called. In doing so, the race leader lost contact with the lead group which contained rivals Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ).

The 220 km Stage 16 was bound to create drama but this turn of events created controversy as the race leader could not respond to his rivals with his legs when his bowels did not cooperate.

Movistar and Bahrain-Merida immediately took advantage of the evolving race situation taking advantage of the race leader’s impromptu nature break to up the pace. With 31-km to race, Dumoulin was isolated with not enough teammates around to help pace him back to the peloton.

Social media imeditielely took note to debate whether attacking the race leader was fair and to make jokes.

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