Nibali redeems himself with stage win
RISOUL: Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali of Astana escaped alone to a summit-finish victory in the 19th stage of the Giro d’Italia whilst Colombia’s Esteban Chaves rode into the pink jersey by coming third on the day.
Pre-race favourite Nibali, 31, had been thought to be dead and buried at this Giro after starting the day fourth overall at 4:43, but is now just 44 seconds off the pace in second, ahead of another mountain stage.
The 2013 champion looked like a man transformed on the final climb and wept openly after crossing the finish line on Friday for his sixth Giro stage win overall, before dedicating the victory to a deceased 14-year-old cyclist killed in an accident 10 days ago.
The victory came after the “Shark” had come in for fierce criticism in the Italian press throughout the race and had been on the brink of being withdrawn by his coach Paolo Slongo after suffering from an illness over the previous days.
“I’ve had some difficult days,” Nibali said after the race. “But today it was payback time.”
Sky’s Mikel Nieve was second on the day, just a couple of seconds ahead of Chaves.
Overnight leader Steven Kruijswijk finished almost five minutes off the pace after surviving a spectacular head-over-heels fall on the rapid descent of the Col d’Agnel but then getting dropped badly on the last climb.
Kruijswijk’s team-mates had all been dropped by the time of the fall, when he hit a huge wall of snow at 2,700m altitude, and his team car was too far away to give him a new bike in good time, so he began the last climb already two minutes off the pace and with a bloody elbow.
Later, Kruijswijk’s Lotto NL team said the Dutchman has suffered a broken rib. — AFP