Double Dutch in Milan as the best man wins the Giro

Dutchman Jos van Emden won the final stage time-trial in Milan yesterday. And I apologise to him, for that is all I'm going to say about it. For it was behind him, where the major time differences were being won and lost, that it mattered. It was another Dutchman who stole the show. Tom Dumoulin. The first Dutchman to win the Giro d'Italia, which almost seems hard to believe. The first since Joop Zoetemelk to win a Grand Tour of any sort. It is a nation that has been devoid of success for some time, though in recent years, they have been knocking on the door. Today, it opened.

And you get the sense that this won't be the one and only Grand Tour win for Dumoulin. How can he not be licking his chops at the idea of a run at the Tour in 2018? How about the Vuelta later this year? Getting over the final hurdle to win one, after coming so close at the Vuelta in 2015, will fill him with confidence. And trust it to be a time-trial in which he sealed the deal. That's where he gained the lions share of his time while defending strong in the mountains. The next Miguel Indurain, some say. Though different too.

Many felt he would take time where he did, but they also felt he would lose more time in the high mountains than he did. Indeed, if it hadn't been for that day of poop on the valley road between the Mortirolo and the Stelvio, he'd have won with ease. That little call of nature cost him 1 minute of a stop and must have snapped his rhythm. Take that back, and more, and today's time trial, the one seen for three weeks as being so crucial, would have been irrelevant.

Quintana grabs pink but will need more time

By the time I tuned into the Giro d'Italia today - and by tune in I mean logged onto Twitter, as well as a live blog - I had missed the ambush. It had been a busy morning for me and while I knew there was a summit finish, I kind of overlooked anything that might happen before. In a way, I felt ambushed.

By all accounts the pink jersey of Tom Dumoulin got distanced on a descent and the teams of Nibali and Quintana put the hammer down. It all came to nothing in the end as a frantic chase ensued that brought it all back together. Even the days initial break was no more. What it did serve to do was soften up the legs of Big Tom who began to lose contact the moment they hit the final climb to Piancavallo.

Doing as he does best though, Dumoulin didn't panic. He settled into his rhythm and set about limiting his loses. The GC will tell you he had a 31 second advantage over Quintana to play with. In reality, with the final day time-trial still to come, that advantage was more like 2 minutes. By the end of the day Dumoulin would lose 1 minute 9 seconds, and his pink jersey, to Quintana.

Dumoulin drops from the rear, in more ways than one!

It was the stage that when they unveiled the 2017 Giro route, everyone got excited about. The queen stage. A trip over the Passo Del Mortirolo and two runs up the Passo Dello Stelvio. The day of reckoning. The most dramatic day when, for some, the shit would hit the fan...or, as it turned out, the side of the road.

It was to be a long day in the saddle; a slow wearing down process. The suffering would build and the elastic would snap and the time gaps would be enormous. Many considered it a day for Tom Dumoulin to limit his loses, but the manor on which he had to do so was unusual to say the least.

At the foot of the days final climb, he stopped, climbed off and lowered his shorts. When you need to go, you need to go, as they say. Dumoulin couldn't control his bowels any longer. As he done his number two, the race moved up the mountain. It left fans debating the rights and wrongs of the racing going on without him, but they didn't have any choice. Waiting was not realistic. In that moment, Steve Kruijswijk was in a break almost two minutes further up the road. A threat to the top five.

A word on the weekend: Dumoulin increases his lead

It was a long weekend here and I was out of town. And I was riding my bike. As such I didn't write anything about the weekend stages of the Giro as they happened. But the major talking point was Tom Dumoulin taking a stage win on Saturday when many felt he might lose time. I walked into a coffee shop mid-ride and got the race on my phone right on time for the final climb. It looked trouble for Big Tom when Nairo Quintana attacked, but the Dutchman did what he does so well and measured his effort. Soon the gap began to reduce and soon he had bridged across. On the run-in he was strongest and finished ahead of Zakarin for stage glory. Quintana coughed up 14 seconds in 4th place. With time-bonuses factored in, Dumoulin increased his lead in the general classification to 2 minute 47 seconds. Not a good sign for his rivals and a real psychological blow on a day they were expected to eat into the Dutchmans so-called time-trial bonus-time.

Shades of Big Mig in Big Tom

The ex-footballer Gary Lineker once said, "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win." I felt the same about the Tour de France in the early 90s. 198 men rode around France for 3 weeks and in the end, Miguel Indurain always won. He did so by sitting tight in a first week that belonged to the sprinters, demolishing his rivals in the time-trials, and preserving in the mountains.

Which brings me to the 2017 Giro and from Big Mig to Big Tom. Tom Dumoulin that is. The majority of the first week here belonged to sprinters or opportunists too. There was the ride up Etna, but that never exploded like the Volcano can. Then there was the finish at Blockhaus, but Tom limited his losses. He rode steady and measured his effort. And finally, ala Indurain, on the first time-trial, he blew away the rest to set up his bid for glory.

Sky taken out while it's advantage Quintana...or is it?

It took eight stages for this Giro to come to life, but once it did, it did so in the most dramatic of ways. Drama, controversy, action, time gaps, lead change and so many talking points it is hard to know where to begin. Do I start with the stage winner and new race leader, Nairo Quintana? Or the fact his win wasn't as convincing as expected? Or with the motorbike induced accident at the foot of the Blockhaus climb that left several contenders on the deck, decimating Team Sky's Giro ambitions?

The later is the logical starting point. It was after all the most dramatic moment, the one that raised the most debate, and the one that came first. Why the police motorbike felt the need to stop at the side of the road I'm not sure, but why he didn't pull off the road I'll never know. The result was Wilko Kelderman of the Sunweb team clipped the motorbike rider and went down taking many riders with him.

One for the grand kids

Luka Pibernik crossed the line yesterday with his arms in the air to win the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia. A proud moment for the 23 year old who must have though he had made it two Solvenian stage wins in-a-row. The reality was very different. There was still 6km, or one lap, to go. It was that cringe worthy moment when somebody thinks they have won, while everyone else knows otherwise.

Somewhere in the throws of exhaustion Pibernik failed to hear the last lap bell. He failed to grasp why the pack behind were not sprinting full out as he thought he'd outwitted them all. The arms went up as he crossed the line and the pack swallowed him up and kept on racing.

Or was he as unaware as you think?

No erruption on Etna

It's a rare day when the locals of Sicily are looking for an explosion on Mount Etna and are disappointed when it doesn't arrive. Yesterday was one of those days...but all because of cycling, not the flow of lava. Blame it on the headwind or the stage coming too early in a race that will end with some brutal climbing, but those who we looked to to ignite the race kept their powder dry.

At one point the winds were strong enough that an echelon formed containing the favourites on the slopes of Etna. It looked out of place but it also looked as though each favourite for this race was riding alongside the other, daring someone to move. Pierre Rolland did move at one stage but they reeled him back in. Later the home island boy, Vincenzo Nibali, put in a dig, but it was as much for the locals than anything else. When he noticed that nobody had come with him he sat up and allowed the shrinking pack to swallow him up again.

Late musings and predictions on the 100th Giro d'Italia

I have been so busy lately that I almost forgot about the Giro starting last weekend. I assumed it began on the Saturday when in fact it was a Friday start. Aside from short clips I seen nothing of the racing. And it was only today, on Monday, when I would finally have the chance to follow it. So of course there would be no race to watch. That Friday start was so they could transfer from Sardinia to Sicily today.

Scenery aside, it doesn't sound like I have missed too much. The first few stages were flat and belonging to the sprinters. It's tomorrow when things will kick off with a mighty summit finish at Mount Etna. It could be explosive!

From then on there will be few times when missing stages will go unpunished. This 100th edition of the Giro has got a brilliant route traversing most of the country. There are some savage mountain stages packed in toward the back in. The lineup of contenders is long and distinguished. Indeed, on paper, this has the makings of the best Grand Tour of the lot. I'm not sure if its the unflappable Chris Froome that has turned so many off targeting the Tour in July? Either way, a lot of them have shown up here. Nairo Quintana included.