Sterling effort from SA team
A DOZEN TOP EIGHT FINISHES IN CLASSIC Dumoulin takes the honours ahead of Nairo Quintana.
Though they were unable to make any real impact over the last few stages, or in the final overall standings, SA-registered team Dimension-Data will be pleased with their performances throughout the opening Grand Tour race of the season, making their presence felt on multiple stages at the Giro d’Italia.
The local outfit secured 12 topeight stage finishes at the 100th edition of the classic annual contest, which came to a close yesterday, led by South African prospect Ryan Gibbons.
Spanish rider Omar Fraile snatched a spectacular victory on stage 11 to cap the team’s solid effort, with Italian Kristian Sbaragli and Australian Nathan Haas also contributing to their challenges up front.
Gibbons enjoyed a spectacular debut, building on a breakthrough season after he won the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia in March, with the 22-year-old rider finishing among the top eight on a total of six sprint stages.
He was withdrawn from the race after 15 legs, with the climbers asserting their authority up front, in order to preserve the young rider for the rest of a long 2017 campaign.
Meanwhile, Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot delivered another historic performance by taking the King of the Mountains jersey on stage two of the race, though he later relinquished the lead in the climbers’ classification.
Dutch rider Jos van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo) won the final stage, a 29.3km individual time trial between Monza and Milan, with compatriot Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) completing the course just 15 seconds off the pace to lift the overall title.
Dumoulin, the Olympic time trial silver medallist, finished the gruelling three-week contest 31 seconds ahead of 2014 winner Nairo Quintana of Colombia (Movistar), who took second place in the general classification, with Italian defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) grabbing third spot a further nine seconds back.
There were no Dimension Data riders in the top 10 on the final stage or in the general classification, but they again proved themselves worthy of their status as an elite World Tour team.
They were set to return to the top-flight campaign in Europe in preparation for the second Grand Tour race of the year, the Tour de France, to be held in July.