Cycling: Quintana takes slim lead into Giro’s last stage

ASIAGO, ITALY— Nairo Quintana held on to the pink jersey in the penultimate stage of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday but couldn’t be sure of victory. The 100th race will be decided on the last stage.

Thibaut Pinot of France won the 20th stage in a sprint finish ahead of Ilnur Zakarin of Russia and defending champion Vincenzo Nibali.

Entering the concluding time trial on Sunday, Quintana leads Nibali by 39 seconds, and Pinot was third, 43 seconds back.

Tom Dumoulin dropped from second to fourth, 53 seconds back, although he still remains the favourite considering his time trialing skills.

The last stage is a flat 29-kilometre (18-mile) individual time trial from Monza’s Formula One race track to Milan.

Dumoulin dominated the race’s first time trial in Stage 10, and also won a time trial at the Tour de France last year.

Quintana regained the pink jersey on Friday and entered Saturday’s stage with a 38-second lead over Dumoulin.

“I’m happy. We have had a good fight with the other rivals. It was important not to lose any time on them but I also wanted to gain some,” Quintana said. “I didn’t gain as much as I wanted on Tom (Dumoulin) but there was nothing more we could do. Now we’ll play all our cards flat out tomorrow.”

In the Stage 10 time trial, which was 39 kilometres (24 miles), Dumoulin finished more than two minutes ahead of Nibali and nearly three minutes ahead of Quintana and Pinot.

That time trial was hilly, while Sunday’s stage is flat, which should suit Dumoulin even more.

Pinot required nearly five hours to complete the 190-kilometre (118mile) route from Pordenone to Asiago, which featured two first-category climbs: A long 24-kilometre ascent to Monte Grappa and a shorter but steeper 14-kilometre rise to Foza.

Ottawa’s Michael Woods was 42nd on Saturday and is 38th overall. Svein Tuft of Langley, B.C., was 159th on the stage and is 144th overall.