So what happened? How on earth did Steven Kruijswijk not see it through considering he had a 3min lead on second place Esteban Chaves and 4min 43sec on Nibali? Can the Colombian, Chaves, with the feel of the pink jersey upon his shoulders really pull it off? Today was into the climbs with high altitude, made for a man like Chaves; it is also the long climbs that surely Kruijswijk could defend on and see it out?
But cometh the hour, cometh the shark. It was a day of high drama, massive excitement and brilliant bike racing in every sense of the word. And there's more tomrrow.
This morning I tuned in expecting action, and perhaps it's easy to say now, but deep down I did feel the Italian had something within him still. Throughout this Giro, Nibali had been obviously lacking form or something. He claimed his numbers were good but couldn't figure out what it was. He underwent tests to see if he had an underlying illness and said that if it proved to be so, he would withdraw from the Giro. Back on that uphill time-trial stage, made for a man like Nibali, he lost huge time to his rivals. As recently as stage 16 to Andolo, the last time they were in serious mountains, Nibali coughed up 1min 47sec to Kruijswijk and slipped back to 4th place overall.
The GC then was much as it was this morning coming into the Alps with Kruijswijk leading Chaves by 3min and Valverde by 3min 23sec with the Spaniard on the podium by 1min 23sec to Nibali. It was looking for all sensible betting that the Dutch would have their first Grand Tour winner since Joop Zoetemelk in 1980.
But then the racing started and the signing off on this Giro as being won and done, stopped. On the first major climb, the Pinorolo, Nibali was clearly feeling good. Those test results must have come back negative and perhaps the sight of that in itself gave him a boost. He attacked hard near the top and the race was split to bits. Only Kruijswijk in a marking roll and Chaves in an opportunists roll could go with him and soon they were over the top and onto a fast descent with Valverde more than a minute down. The podium was on for Nibali and for the other two it was becoming a safe bet.
Then...disaster.
On a sweeping left hand corner, Nibali kept the pressure on and, not wanting to lose contact, Kruijswijk -- not known for his descending -- ran wide and hard into a snow bank. He fliped over and was left on the deck as Nibali and Chaves sped on down the mountain. By the time the Dutchman got back on a new bike he was already half a minute down. By the time he reached the bottom his deficit was over a minute.
Obviously the plan by Nibali once he felt that he couldn't distance Kruijswijk on that first climb was to try put him under pressure on the descent. This was how Eddy Merckx played it in the 1971 Tour de France when he overcame a 7min 23sec deficit to Luis Ocana by attacking relentlessly, including on the descents and finally forcing the Spaniard into an error. That error caused a crash that cost Ocana his place in the race and Merckx went on to win, but Kruijswijk was at least able to continue albeit with a much slender lead than seven some minutes and Nibali still had a lot to do to even think about winning this race yet.
The only problem was that Kruijswijk was now isolated whereas Nibali had wisely placed team-mate Michele Scarponi in the early break who now sat up to help pace him through the long valley roads before the final climb. The gap only grew and Kruijswijk grew desperate. He could feel his lead slipping away as Chaves sensed his own shot at glory. He stood to benefit the most and also had a man, Ruben Plaza, with him to help Astana with the pace setting. The Valverde group had also passed Kruijswijk and came close to rejoining Nibali and Chaves but the help they had from their respective team-mates ensured the elastic snapped and by the time they began the final climb to Risoul he was a minute behind with the pink jersey over two and a half minutes in arrears.
Bob Jungels had caught Kruijswijk and was helping with some pace setting but it soon became evidently clear what the chance, and perhaps the crash itself, had done to the Dutchman. As the road started to go up, he cracked. Even Jungels rode away from him. Before long Chaves was the new pink jersey on the road.
Not that the Orica GreenEdge rider was having it easy by any means. When Nibali launched his first attack he was able to close, but only just. The Italian was merely testing him and he clearly liked what he seen for when he kicked again the Colombian had no response and Nibali was free to fly. He was leading the stage and he was clawing his way back into this Giro d'Italia at the most crucial time.
The gaps were huge.
Chaves clearly cracked when Nibali went...the searing pace on this the19th day of racing in this Giro was clearly too much for his legs and by the time he hit the line he had conceded a whopping 53sec to Nibali, though had the joy of moving into the pink jersey when Kruijswijk trailed in 16th, 4min 54sec behind.
Another huge loser on the day was poor Ilnur Zakarin. 5th overall he too crashed on the descent of the Pinorolo, though he got it much worse than Kruijswijk. A broken collarbone ended his race and his bid for a high finish overall. At first his crash caused a lot of worry given had bad it was, so while a broken collarbone is never good, it's worth considering that on a descent like that, it could have been even worse.
The term turning a race on its head is thrown around a lot in cycling, but this stage was the very definition of that. Valverde, who lost 2min 14sec to Nibali, is off the podium positions now; Kruijswijk is down to third tonight at 1min 5sec; Nibali up to second and Chaves in pink by 44sec.
So what now? Tomorrow's stage is a brute too. Three major climbs before a short but steep little ramp up to the finish. Nibali is is form at long last, of that there no doubt. I suppose in a three week Grand Tour this is when you want to peak, though perhaps not with such a deficit to overcome. Kruijswijk was looking so good until today, unflappable and able to answer every move and even counter them with moves of his own. Indeed without the crash he might well have matched Nibali wheel for wheel...we'll never know. Chaves, the man in pink? Well, he has everything to race for tomorrow but losing 53sec to Nibali over a matter of a few kilometres clearly showed he is on his limit now and the little Colombian, looking to win Orica their first Grand Tour, has just one mountain stage to survive and a 44sec lead to play with in trying to contain the Italian tomorrow.
The Shark is back to his best and senses the blood of his rivals in the water. Tomorrow should be epic.
2016 Giro d'Italia, stage 19 result:
| 1. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) 2. Mikel Nieve (Sky) 3. Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEdge) 4. Diego Ulissi (Lampre) 5. Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) 6. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) --- 16. Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) |
in 4h 19' 54"
@ 51" @ 53" @ 1' 02" @ 2' 14" s.t. --- @ 4' 54" |
General classification after stage 19:
| 1. Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEdge) 2. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) 3. Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) 4. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) 5. Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) 6. Bob Jungels (Etixx - Quick Step) |
in 78 h 14' 20"
@ 44" @ 1' 05" @ 1' 48" @ 3' 59" @ 7' 53" |
