Sean Ingle's race report
Here you go, including news that Froome was spat at during the stage. Thanks for all your company today, we’ll be back for the final stage in Rome tomorrow.
Next stop ... Rome ...
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) May 26, 2018
The #Giro101 trophy awaits for @chrisfroome 🏆🍾 #Giro101 pic.twitter.com/Z1g2S47J7z
Froome speaks! “I felt very in control. I felt everyone had such a hard day yesterday that nobody really had the legs to go anywhere. This Giro has been brutal, when someone tends to have a bad day here it’s not just 30 seconds or a minute, it’s 10-15 minutes. You could see today Pinot was in trouble and Astana turned the screw, so for us it was just to keep an eye on Tom. I sprinted to the finish just to keep in front of everything.”
Nieve stands atop today’s podium, and receives his very colourful spoils. “Happy birthday to you!” rings out of the loudspeaker.
Here’s our initial take from today – and our man Sean Ingle will be penning more very shortly!
Nieve on winning the stage: “After yesterday’s stage I definitely started to look forward today and I think we had a really good team right the way through, we’ve won plenty of stages now and we’ve had good cohesion throughout the team. I’m really happy to get the stage win.”
The comeback is complete! Chris Froome crosses the line safely on stage 20 to all but secure victory in the 2018 Giro d'Italia #Giro101 #VaiVaiFroome pic.twitter.com/IwqoSlzJno
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) May 26, 2018
Celebrations at Sky.
Yep – Froome’s lead is confirmed as 46 seconds, for whatever it’s now worth.
And to confirm the top three in the overall classification:
1 – Chris Froome; 2 – Tom Dumoulin; 3 – Miguel Angel Lopez.
It will surely stay that way. The only real surprise today was Pinot’s unfortunate meltdown, which put him right out of the reckoning from a great position.
What a day for Froome and for British cycling, even if we shouldn’t count every single chicken, because tomorrow must still be seen out and there could yet, in theory, be a strange localised typhoon over his bike in Rome. He added a handful of seconds to his lead over Dumoulin, who had a go late on but just couldn’t put a concerted attack together and ended up effectively waving the white flag in the final few kilometres. A good effort from Dumoulin but it never, if we are really honest, seemed on.
Updated
Stage 20 standings:
1 Nieve
2 Gesink
3 Grosschartner
4 Ciccone
5 Brambilla
6 Poels
7 Froome
8 Formolo
9 Pozzovino
10 Carapaz
Updated
Chris Froome sprints home – and will win the Giro d'Italia
There was no recovery from Dumoulin and, barring an absolute disaster on the most straightforward of finishes tomorrow, he will be the first British winner of the Giro!
I’m not sure Carapaz will have enough to put genuine pressure on Lopez. With just over 1km left for the key protagonists the overall standings are 1 Froome, 2 Dumoulin, 3 Lopez, 4 Carapaz.
Updated
@NickAmes82 people have some right to be sceptical about the sport but @chrisfroome intended to “ride into” this giro, made up around 90 seconds going downhill yesterday and will likely win by a matter of seconds, not minutes, as in GTs of the 1990/00s.
— Shaun Osborne (@shaunosborne12) May 26, 2018
He is about to do exactly that.
Gesink finishes second in the stage, behind Nieve – a great ride from him, especially as he had some problems towards the end.
Now Richard Carapaz attacks with about 3km to go, streaking ahead of the peloton; he’s fourth in the standings, and started 47 seconds behind Lopez in third ... he couldn’t overtake him, could he?
The biggest race is still being run though – in a few minutes we’ll find out if Chris Froome has, indeed, all-but won the Giro. Remember, tomorrow’s run around Rome is little more than a formality!
Updated
Mikel Nieve wins stage 20 of the Giro!
Well deserved and very, very convincing from Nieve, who led with just under 40km to go and never looked back after that. Happy 34th birthday! It’s his fifth career win, his third in the Giro, and a great day for Mitchelton-Scott.
“The comparison with Landis is innaccurate and unfair to Froome,” writes Joss Pinches. “Landis made his wunder-ride after a disastrous day where he lost a huge chunk of time, Froome was showing signs of strength the day before and had made the definitive attack which dropped Yates (sob); Landis won by 10 minutes, Froome by a little over three, a large part of which was on the descent, so yeah, they were both long-range and both propelled the protagonists into the lead, but beyond those superficialities the comparison doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.”
2km to go: Dumoulin is still trying, still going, and his second place is more than secure – but he’s not surely going to overhaul Froome here even though he’s found his rhythm again after that little wobble.
2.5km to go: Dumoulin is still going, whatever those difficulties were, but it seems as if his challenge is done. Froome has seen him off here, I’m sure of it!
2.9km to go: Dumoulin goes away again as they enter a tunnel ... Froome responds yet again, and you can’t really fault the leader’s sharpness here. He’s ready for everything Dumoulin is trying ... and Dumoulin may be in trouble now ... he’s shaking his head!
3.5km to go: This would be Nieve’s third-ever Giro stage win. And it doesn’t seem in much doubt.
4km to go: Dumoulin and Froome are in a six-man group, led by Dumoulin’s team-mate Sam Oomen. Dumoulin has a word in Oomen’s ear, presumably demanding more pace. Froome isn’t really in any trouble at the moment after the brief excitement of that initial attack.
@NickAmes82 It's too bad there is discussion about drugs in this Giro. That an amazing performance is questioned. Remember, however, that Yeats cracked big time and Dumoulin is on the doorstep. These are 'real' events.
— Neil McIver (@neilrmciver) May 26, 2018
And it’s getting real now! Dumoulin is streaking out, putting a little road between him and his rival, although Froome isn’t in real danger just yet.
5.4km to go: Dumoulin has a glance behind him. He’s starting to go for this; there’s so much work to do but he’s at least asking Froome a few questions.
5.8km to go: Here we go! Dumoulin, followed swiftly by Froome, makes his move with about 9km left for the peloton. The race is on!
6.5km to go: Mohoric, who we saw lead early on, has been overtaken by the peloton. They’re quickening the pace, that’s for sure, and eating into that gap behind Nieve – which is still 8min 43sec though.
7.5km to go: Froome is comfortably tucked behind Sergio Henao, his team-mate. Sky know how to do this.
8.6km to go: Surely Dumoulin will have a pop at this? Just so you aren’t too confused – he has rather more than 8.6km to go, he’s nine minutes behind Nieve. There’s time, but not lots.
Updated
9km to go: Movistar, and particularly Richard Carapaz – fifth in the standings at the start of the day – are the team making moves at the front of the peloton now. Still time for a late attack somewhere.
Updated
“This Giro has been so retro,” emails Matt Cast. “The breakaway yesterday was like Landis. And, like during the Armstrong days, we’ll be left with massive doubts over the winner of the race we’ve spent 3 weeks watching. I love this sport, but right now I’m almost wishing that I could give it up entirely.
“The parliamentary report stated: ‘We believe that drugs were being used by Team Sky, within the Wada rules, to enhance the performance of riders, and not just to treat medical need,’ and that was before what happened at the Vuelta. There’s no denying the legitimate doubts and that is infinitely depressing.”
10.9km to go: Robert Gesink is having issues – he needs a bike change, I think after an issue with his back wheel, and won’t stay in that chasing pack. Grosschartner is the man putting what pressure there is on Nieve now.
12km to go: Absolutely no sign of Nieve losing this, currently. He’s going perfectly steadily and is well over a minute ahead of the trio behind.
13.7km to go: It’s not a spectacular climb, this last one – just long and at a slight gradient, at around 8.2% currently. We’ve seen nothing too much from Dumoulin yet and it doesn’t seem as if we’re going to have any time bonuses here, so he needs to move quickly soon.
15km to go: Pinot is more than 20 minutes down now. It looks as if he is going to see this through but, my word, how disappointing for him. So much good work to get himself that high in the classification has been undone in one moment.
16.3km to go: Nieve begins the final ascent. He is eight minutes, 38 seconds ahead of Froome and company. Looks like this stage – a very fast one – will finish pretty quickly and, perhaps, without too much drama.
Updated
“No Italian in the top 5... when was the last time that happened in the Giro?!” asks Justin Ratcliffe. Historians?
19.5km to go: Ciccone, Brambilla and Gesink are the trio behind Nieve now. Froome is just starting to move now, getting ahead of the main crowd in the peloton and stretching out a little.
Updated
22.7km to go: Grossschartner, in second, is still in touch with Nieve and climbs well, traditionally, but he has a lot to do to take the stage title.
Updated
24.4km to go: It’s Nieve’s 34th birthday by the way. You have to say he looks on course to win the stage – which would be brilliant for him and Mitchelton-Scott. Who’d begrudge him that?
Updated
26km to go: Froome is going steadily, powerfully, convincingly. I can’t see him collapsing. Does Dumoulin have a big attack up his sleeve in the final ascent though?
27km to go: Now for the steepest, fastest descent of the stage. Nieve is absolutely slamming this, it must be said – no longer there to support Yates, he’s really coming into his own. The peloton are a distant seven minutes, 52 seconds behind!
@NickAmes82 Vuelta 17 was brutal but the Giro has been especially tough and it shows in the rate of attrition for the riders. Since Jerusalem it’s been full gas with cycling convention going out the window, unpredictable from the off!
— Lisa Higgins (@LHigginswal) May 26, 2018
It’s been brilliant, hasn’t it?
28.7km to go: Nieve is approaching the second summit and will take the next set of mountain points – I think his first of the Giro.
@NickAmes82 Pinot cracking hardly surprising after having to contribute so much trying to limit the loss to Froome yesterday. Dumoulin did more work than he would have liked as well. Setting up a pretty even final approach to Cervinia as it stands.
— Lisa Higgins (@LHigginswal) May 26, 2018
That approach is, I reckon, about half an hour away.
31.9km to go: The Pinot group continue bravely but it’s damage limitation now. Meanwhile Nieve Iturralde (we’ll call him Nieve from now) is still out in front of the overall pack, in fact well out in front now; don’t forget, he is a team-mate of Yates with Mitchelton-Scott and started the day 25th. It’s been a brilliant race for them however this all pans out now.
33km to go: I only alluded to this briefly earlier but Pinot’s collapse means Miguel Angel Lopez is third in the overall standings, behind Froome and Dumoulin. He started the day 40 seconds behind Pinot and four minutes, 57 seconds behind Froome.
34km to go: A rare sighting of Froome on the cameras. There isn’t too much sign of fallibility there. He might just be content with a quiet, efficient, effective afternoon’s work.
Updated
35.3km to go: Pinot is in a group of his own but is clearly physically ill, he seems to be retching – a side effect of taking a lot of gels on board very quickly perhaps – and battling his own body more than any competitor should be. It’s a tremendously brave effort but I’d be stunned if he can manage one more climb after this.
36.7 km to go: It’s now a front three of Brambilla, Felix Grossschartner and Mikel Nieve Iturralde. I think Ciccone’s challenge has tailed off, but he’ll take those mountain points from the first ascent.
Updated
@NickAmes82 Pinot will be fine. It'll take Thrilling Heroics, but he'll get a Stomp On and finish.
— MaliciousA (@MaliciousA) May 26, 2018
I have definitely seen this joke before.
Not sure races can be "too hard" in the age of heart rate monitors and team comms @NickAmes82. For example, when mountain stages were shortened from the old 250km monsters, they just rode hard from the gun. I do think stage transfers should be minimised though.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) May 26, 2018
Pertinent response to Robert Mason’s question from earlier.
39km to go: Interesting ... the breakaway has lost about 30 seconds on the maglia rosa group, in a fairly short space of time. Are we about to see a race? In the meantime, Mohoric slows up, his work done, and is overtaken at the front by Gianluca Brambilla. Mohoric has been fun to watch.
Updated
40km to go: Mohoric is around 30 seconds ahead of everyone else in the leading pack. The gap between him and the maglia rosa group is a further six minutes. The overall standings at the top as we stand, bearing in mind Pinot’s misfortune are: 1 Froome, 2 Dumoulin, 3 Lopez Moreno, 4 Pinot, 5 Carapaz.
Pinot hits the wall
40.5km to go: We’ll see if Pinot continues but one thing is for sure, he’s hit the wall and is well out of the maglia rosa group now. Don’t forget: Pinot began today in third place. He seems to have taken some liquid on board and, surrounded by team-mates, will continue – but he’s well out of the reckoning now and looks a long shot to finish the stage. What a shame!
Updated
41.2km to go: This looks bad for Thibaut Pinot! He’s in trouble, there are support cars around him ... what’s going on?
41.4km to go: Still the bunch of Astana riders at the head of the maglia rosa group. This climb is 16.5km long, with a top gradient of 12% – so not quite what they’ve just had to go through in terms of steepness, or what they faced yesterday. It’s more the length that may cause problems than anything else.
42.5km to go: Now we’re well into the second climb. The advance group is looking more and more credible, it must be said. It’s a pretty controlled race at the moment, not a great deal of action although some fine, fast stuff from Mohoric at the front in particular.
43km to go: Of course, we may not see a big push at all. Dumoulin isn’t known as the most attacking of riders and we have to be honest – unless Froome really collapses it would be a massive shock to see his rival really take it by the horns enough to overturn him.
Updated
44km to go: It very much feels like the lull before the big push now. The gap between the two groups is six and a half minutes, an increase owing mainly to the descent, but there isn’t a great deal of respite once we get to the next climb ...
Updated
Look, anyone who enjoys this sport would probably have loved Simon Yates to keep his challenge going. It hasn’t happened but he will be back. He – and we – can take a lot from his Giro, as William Fotheringham tells us in this fine piece:
We’re now towards the bottom of that first descent but this is a good indication of how far through we are. Another couple of hours to go, I imagine:
#Giro101 #Giro
— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 26, 2018
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@NickAmes82 A lot of speculation that Vuelta ‘17 was too tough, just for viewers pleasure. Is Giro ‘18 tougher?
— Robert Mason (@rmmasonitfc) May 26, 2018
Ooof, I mean, let me know your views on this. I’m not sure this Giro has been overly brutal, has it? As we said earlier, they’ve certainly teed up a spectacular finish but is it at the levels of last year’s Vuelta?
52.9km to go: They’ll be climbing again before we know it. Mohoric is back in front as the race leader, he’s taken this descent very sharply. Not much news from Froome and company; the gap remains as was.
61.5km to go: The peloton go over the top of the first climb and the gap remains around five and a half minutes ...
62.8km to go: Koen Bouwman is behind Ciccone at the moment, Robert Gesink third.
67.2km to go: That first climb is complete! The peloton, with Astana setting the pace there, are five and a half minutes behind. Ciccone takes the mountain points here, and they’re well-earned: he’s out in front still and now everyone can enjoy a pretty steep descent.
67.9km to go: It’s Guilio Ciccone pushing on up top currently, which is going down well among the crowd who are packed tightly around some of these narrow, twisting bends, yelling their support and approval.
69.4km to go: Some fairly wild hairpins are imminent, apparently. It’s going to get tricky now: would this be an opportune time for Dumoulin to strike out?
70km to go: No, nine at the front, ignore me! Mohoric is still in there.
70.6km: Astana are at a fair gallop in the peloton, by the way, and they could do with pushing on and making some gains today. There are a lot of very tired legs out there, that’s clear already, and you wonder how many riders we’ll end up with come the last knockings. It’s now a core of eight at the front.
Updated
@NickAmes82 gotta love the Giro leaving big climbs for the last few days normally the TdF is well over by this stage with the odd exception.
— John McEnerney (@MackerOnTheMed) May 26, 2018
Quite! It’s some cracking drama and sets up exactly the kind of scenes we saw yesterday – and may, for all we know, see again today.
72km to go: Mohoric, the present leader, won stage 10 of course. The peloton remain just under five minutes behind, so it’s not quite closed in as much as we might have thought yet. Dumoulin is playing a long game.
73.5km to go: They’re about to tackle the section of the climb that I make the steepest part of the day – it peaks at 15%. Still two more like this to go! Matej Mohoric is currently in the lead.
Updated
75km to go: It’s now a 13-strong pack in the break; they’re dropping off like flies and that could make things very interesting ...
76km to go: We’ve had three hours and the average speed is a nifty 45.3km/h. Doesn’t look like we’re in for any kind of recovery from Simon Yates: he’s losing time on the leaders as we speak.
78km to go: The peloton, now in mid-climb themselves, have reduced the gap to about 4min 39sec. We have a bit of a breakway now from Roman Kreuziger of Mitchelton-Scott, who began the day down in 50th.
Email from Geoff Wignall:
“Just a couple of thoughts about Chris Froome and yesterday’s ride. I’m pretty agnostic on the issue of his past misdemeanours or innocence, though I understand fully those who think he and probably the whole Sky team should have stood down from racing until matters are resolved.
“But I suspect he’d be getting a more sympathetic hearing in some quarters if he was riding for a less disreputable and unlikeable team. It’s fair enough to say that it’s his choice but there still shouldn’t be guilt by association.
“As for the Giro, I simply can’t believe he’d be riding it anything other than clean with all the questions, suspicions and focus already generated. Or am I just being naive?”
Well that’s my take to be honest – who on earth would chance it?
First climb of the day: Col Tsecore. 16 km with long stretches exceeding 12% over the last 4 km. | Prima salita del giorno: Col Tsecore. 16 km con lunghi tratti oltre il 12% negli ultimi 4 km. #Giro101 #Giro pic.twitter.com/ysFp6MdsSW
— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 26, 2018
A better breakdown than I can muster of what they’re currently up to out there ...
81.8km to go: Such a scenic stage, this, winding through some narrow village streets at the moment. It’s almost as much of a pleasure as the action that’s unfolding. Viviani has won the second intermediate sprint, at Verres, so he’s on maximum points for the day in that contest.
82.8km to go: The cyclists at the front are now well into that first 16km climb. It’s such a quick pace behind them that you can’t really see the break staying out there very long at all, but we’ll see.
83km to go: It’s a 27-man break, by the way, as I should have pointed out earlier. Elia Viviani took the first intermediate sprint in front of Davide Ballerini and Marco Frapporti.
Updated
85km to go: There’s a fairly strong tailwind at the moment, reflected in the rapid time. The gap still stays fairly consistently at around 4min 53 sec.
90km to go: In around 8km that first major climb begins in earnest. And all eyes will be on Froome and Dumoulin. Will the latter go hard and early, or will he wait it out a little longer?
92km to go: We’re reminded that Fabio Aru won the last stage to finish in Cervinia. No chance of that today: he had to abandon yesterday’s stage after an hour or so, completing a very disappointing Giro for him.
Here’s a thoughtful email from David Hindle about what we saw yesterday:
“There are so many sides to the miraculous performance yesterday. Of course, 3 minutes were possible, given the special circumstances. He took a minute on a descent, for instance. Dumoulin was pretty isolated in the group of 4 as a chaser too. And it was hilly, even steep terrain. So you could see it as a time trial between Froome and Dumoulin, over a much longer distance than either of them normally ride TT’s on terrain that suited Froome. And Froome may be coming into form as Dumoulin weakens a bit.
“But, one of the other aspects of it is the inability, or refusal, of anyone from Team Sky to discuss the result in the obvious context of the total loss of credibility following the Parliamentary hearing, their failure to address any of the obvious issues about their culture and management this raised, their failure to engage at all with the wider world of cycling, and of course, Froome’s adverse analytical finding. Sky want to keep their heads down and wait for it all to go away. It will never go away. And so this result, however it may have been gained, will for ever have a gigantic question mark over it.
“It would have been much better for all of us if Simon Yates hadn’t cracked. Simon Yates who had a mess up with a TUE himself, and accepted a ban with no question at the time. And Simon Yates who shows he has physical limits that are probably ‘normal’.”
It’s a good point about Yates. If he’d kept it up, we’d still have him to focus on!
Updated
100km to go: The gap between the break and the peloton stretched above five minutes for a while but now stands at 4m 53 sec.
104km to go: Astana and Movistar are riding at the front currently. It’s been quick so far, as you’d expect perhaps from such a flat start to the day – terrain-wise, that is.
Quite some quote earlier from George Bennett, currently ninth in the standings, whose disbelief at Froome’s achievement did the rounds widely yesterday. Bennett has ... errm ... clarified his stance saying:
“I didn’t say Froomey went out and rode on a bunch of gear and won the stage. I’m just saying he made a bigger comeback than bloody Easter Sunday.”
Team Sky’s Nicolas Portal on Froome: “It was the first time I saw, personally, a kind of performance like this. We and him were always believing in this chance, I don’t look at the media, or social media. You don’t want to say ‘ah this is done’, it’s not done. Maybe Dumoulin will start to attack on the first climb, or wait for the third, but he needs to attack.”
Anyway, on to today. The maglia rosa group are at around 78km, four minutes and two seconds behind the leaders. The three big climbs and descents come in the last 84 kilometres – they are 16km, 16.5km and 18km respectively. Will Dumoulin be able to muster one last attack?
Updated
I’ve just watched quite simply the best bike ride from @chrisfroome I have ever seen. WTF!!! #amazing
— Lee Dixon (@LeeDixon2) May 25, 2018
Froome’s feat yesterday earned plenty of admirers, although it is fair to point out that not everyone feels that way.
As we go along in the next few hours, please do drop me emails or tweets – I’d love to hear how you think things will go today, and what you think of events to date ...
Updated
A reminder of how things stood going into today’s action: Chris Froome led Tom Dumoulin by 40 seconds after that ride of a lifetime, with the very impressive Thibaut Pinot in third – four minutes and 17 seconds behind.
Stage 20: Susa to Breuil-Cervinia
Well! Have we all recovered from yesterday yet? What an astonishing performance that was from Chris Froome to put himself in the box seat, blowing everyone away and – with two stages to go – leaving us wondering what on earth might happen next.
What happens today will be decisive. Some pretty spectacular scenes are in the offing, however it all pans out. Stage 20 is an absolute fiend, containing three gargantuan Cat 1 climbs at the back end, and if Froome produces anything like Friday’s showing then surely the maglia rosa is all his ahead of tomorrow’s procession to Rome. They’re well underway already today – this is a long, difficult 214km stretch so it pays to make ground early on. We are about an hour and 40 minutes in, and join the action just as it begins to get really interesting ...
This stage across the Alps features a remarkable 4,000 m rise and drop. The riders will tackle 3 climbs amounting to nearly 20 km each | Tappone alpino. Propone quasi 4000 m di dislivello. Si scalano 3 salite di quasi 20 km ciascuna. #Giro101 #Giro pic.twitter.com/VU7uU7PWmE
— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 26, 2018
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