Froome seals Giro with a stage to go

Birthday boy Nieve of Mitchelton-Scott steals limelight

Chris Froome effectively sealed victory in the Giro d’Italia yesterday by holding his only remaining challenger in check up the final climb of the threeweek race.

The four-time Tour de France champion takes a 40-second lead over Tom Dumoulin into today’s mostly ceremonial finish in Rome and is poised to win his third consecutive Grand Tour, matching the achievements of cycling greats Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault.

Dumoulin attacked Froome multiple times on the finishing climb of the 214-kilometre leg from Susa to Cervinia but in five attempts wasn’t able to gain any ground. After Dumoulin’s fifth attack, Froome responded with an acceleration of his own and dropped Dumoulin briefly.

Spanish rider Mikel Nieve of the Mitchelton-Scott team won the stage with a long, solo breakaway to celebrate his 34th birthday.

The concluding stage is a flat 115-km leg of 10 laps around a circuit through the centre of Rome.

It would signal a dramatic turnaround in fortunes for the Kenyan-born Briton, who before the start of Friday’s 19th stage was over three minutes behind leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton) and looked virtually out of victory contention.

Thanks to an audacious plan concocted by his team, Froome went on the attack 80km from the finish on the notoriously difficult Colle delle Finestre climb on Friday, leaving a struggling Yates to trail home over half an hour in arrears.

The impressive stage win gave Froome the pink jersey and left his closest rival, defending champion Tom Dumoulin, 40 secs in arrears.

With overall victory in sight, Froome gave little to the Dutchman on the 20th stage. Both crossed the finish line together as Nieve handed Mitchelton a consolation stage victory. Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (GroupamaFDJ), meanwhile, saw his hopes of a podium finish in Rome dashed. He began the stage in third overall, but suffered a spectacular collapse.