Giro d'Italia Stage 20: Froome Seals Giro Victory
The Jacking of the Thread commences...
Twenty-four hours after his dramatic offensive maneuver to take control of the Giro d'Italia, Chris Froome of Sky executed some textbook defense of the jersey to seal his first career maglia rosa and his three-in-a-row grand tour extravaganza. The British rider, still under a cloud from his salbutamol overuse in last year's Vuelta a España, delivered a performance at this Giro that should quiet at least some of his critics,* the ones focused on his sometimes monotonous racing style. Froome blew apart the race yesterday in about as dramatic a fashion as possible, leaving today to a march of inevitability. Nobody could have had much snap in their legs following the brutal 19th stage, and third-placed Thibaut Pinot of FDJ had the least of the contenders, dropping completely out of the top ten after falling off the pace on the second climb of the day, leaving Astana's Miguel Angel Lopez -- the wearer of the best young rider's jersey -- to third place overall.
* The critics who doubt his cleanliness are the opposite of mollified by his win, however.
Froome's main rival, defending winner Tom Dumoulin of Sunweb, tried to pull back his 40 second gap to Froome on the overall standings, but to no avail. He attacked repeatedly on the final climb to Cervinia, a relatively low-gradient slope that suits his powerful engine, but that engine was still overheated from the previous day's effort, and instead of getting any meaningful space, Dumoulin found himself gently parrying with Froome, who launched a few accelerations of his own, including one over the finish line to sew up the King of the Mountains jersey. Sometimes races play out exactly as we might have speculated, and this was one where Friday's Queen Stage told the story of the entire Giro. Today merely filled in a few blanks.
Up ahead, Mikel Nieve of Mitchelton-Scott salved the wounds of his team with a fifth stage victory, soloing home from the breakaway. The win might not erase the memory of Simon Yates ceding his long-held grip on the Maglia Rosa yesterday and himself disappearing from the overall standings. But an iconic stage win is always good tonic, and for the veteran Basque climber, it was his third career Giro stage.
Results:
GC:
Susa - Cervinia 214 km
Now that everyone is well rested from a relaxing day yesterday we should see some cracking racing today! Or 214 kms of pure misery that is sure to claim some victims?
Check the full details of the gruesomeness in the preview.
Matterhorner of the Day : Michael Woods
The "right" breakaway could well run away with the prize today unless it's a crazy day. And when is it ever a crazy day at the Giro? And who better to take it than the ES Education juggernaut.