Barring disaster, Chris Froome (Team Sky) should become the first Briton to win the Giro d’Italia as he will start tomorrow’s final stage with a 46″ lead over Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb)
On today’s final mountainous stage which was the last opportunity for any other contenders to dislodge Froome from the lead, he was able to fend off any challengers. Dumoulin made a number of attempts to go clear on the summit finish to Cervinia, but Froome was able to respond each time.
Today’s 214-kilometre stage from Susa to Cervinia was won by Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) who finished 2’17” ahead of Robert Gesink Team LottoNL-Jumbo) with Felix Grossschartner (BORA – hansgrohe) in third. Froome finished in third place, six seconds ahead of Dumoulin. Froome also sealed victory in the mountains classification.
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama – FDJ) suffered from yesterday’s efforts as he lost his third place overall. The Frenchman finished over 45 minutes behind Nieve and slipped to 16th place on GC. His podium place was taken by Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team).
The race concludes tomorrow with a 115-kilometre circuit race in Rome which will suit the sprinters.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” admitted Froome after the race.
He told Eurosport: “I have to say a really big part of being able to do what I was able to do yesterday was everyone believing me and everyone buying into the one plan we had. A lot of times when things don’t work out on the general classification for a rider, they lose a few minutes and you can see the team falls apart. Guys start going in the breaks and doing their own thing a little bit more.
“With us it just felt like the guys got behind me everyday. They were like ‘listen, you’ve had a tough day but don’t worry you’ll be back tomorrow. You’ll get better we believe in you.’ It just feels amazing to be able to repay them after three weeks of hard work. To finish it off today is just amazing.”
