Dumoulin set on forgetting toilet trouble with pink jersey history

Giro d’Italia leader Tom Dumoulin said he is determined to eclipse his embarrassing toilet mishap on stage 16 of the race by becoming the first Dutch winner of the pink jersey.

“I’m not here to write history because I’m s ******* g in the bushes. I’m here to try and write history by winning the race in Milan,” Dumoulin said on Wednesday after defending his 31-second lead over Colombia’s Nairo Quintana after a 17th stage won by Frenchman Pierre Rolland.

Television pictures of Dumoulin throwing his bike into a grass verge, ripping off his cycling shorts and relieving himself by the side of the road on Tuesday’s ‘Queen’ 16th stage to Bormio went viral.

As well as leaving the Dutchman red-faced, it slashed his overnight lead of 2min 41secs to just 31 seconds after he battled valiantly over the formidable Stelvio climb into Bormio to keep the pink jersey.

On Wednesday, Dumoulin avoided a repeat during a much easier 219 km ride from Tirano to Canazei in the scenic Dolomites to maintain his lead on Quintana and a 1min 12sec cushion on Italy’s two-time winner Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain).

He admitted he’d learned a valuable lesson about eating before and during the race, but played down suggestions he will need to make alliances if he is to keep the double threat of Quintana and Nibali at bay.

Blaming a “combination of a few things” for his toilet trouble, he said: “We have to be focused when it comes to my food intake, then we’ll solve a lot of the problem.

“I needed to eat (energy) bars, of course, and food in the race. I was worried whether it would be okay, but it was completely fine.”