Vincenzo Nibali surges ahead on stage 20 to win the Giro d’Italia for a second time

After three weeks of gruelling riding, illness, injury and largely unheralded race leaders, the 99th edition of the Giro d’Italia reached an explosive climax on Saturday with Vincenzo Nibali surging back, to claim victory in his home grand tour for a second time.

Nibali had looked dead and buried two days ago when he found himself over four minutes down on general classification and well off even the minor podium places. An extraordinary comeback stage victory on Friday, when long-time race leader Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) crashed into a snow bank on a descent and fractured his rib, allowed the Italian back into overall contention. And faced with a deficit of 44 seconds to the Colombian Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) on yesterday’s final mountain stage, Nibali showed no mercy.

The so-called ‘Shark of Messina’ bided his time as the peloton slogged its way up and over the day’s first two gargantuan climbs, the Col de Vars and the Col de la Bonette, before making his move on the last big climb of the day, the Colle della Lombarda, with around 17.5km of the stage remaining.

Initially staying in the slipstream of team mate Michele Scarponi, Nibali whittled down the group of GC contenders before surging away solo from Chaves and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), cresting the climb with a gap of around one minute to his GC rivals, before negotiating the technical descent and final short climb to the finish in Sant'Anna di Vinadio.

Nibali eventually won by 52 seconds from Chaves – whose tearful mother, wearing a pink T-shirt, was amongst the first to congratulate him – with Valverde third, a further 25 seconds behind. Kruijswijk, the unfortunate Dutchman, managed to hold on to fourth place despite his fractured rib. Katusha’s Rein Taarame won the penultimate stage from the day’s breakaway.

The race does not actually finish until Sunday but with tradition dictating that no one attacks the race leader on the final day, Nibali’s win is assured. It is the fourth grand tour victory of the 31 year-old’s career, Nibali having previously won each of the ‘Big Three’ in France, Spain and Italy once.

His consistency in grand tours is undeniable. And as with his win at the Tour de France two years ago, he did not have to beat any of cycling’s established grand tour superstars to triumph here. Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana, Tejay van Garderen et al are all saving themselves for the Tour.

Nibali was certainly on paper the class rider in the field, especially once Mikel Landa (Team Sky) withdrew early on.

The mystery, and the reason people will talk, is why it took him so long to get going before he suddenly found his form when he had to.

“I thought maybe everything was lost but also maybe that it still wasn’t over,” said Nibali, who had come in for severe criticism in the Italian press while struggling earlier in the race. “The last week can change and I thought something could happen.”

“It was a crazy Giro. A difficult, exhausting one for me,” he said. “I had a lot of pressure on my shoulders but I’ve put on this great show, so I’m happy.”

Top 10, stage 20

1. Rein TAARAMAE, TEAM KATUSHA, in 4:22:43
2. Darwin ATAPUMA HURTADO, BMC RACING TEAM, at :52
3. Joseph Lloyd DOMBROWSKI, CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING TEAM, at 1:17
4. Mikel NIEVE ITURALDE, TEAM SKY, at 4:12
5. Alexander FOLIFOROV, GAZ, at 4:36
6. Vincenzo NIBALI, ASTANA PRO TEAM, at 6:44
7. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, MOVISTAR TEAM, at 6:57
8. Rigoberto URAN URAN, CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING TEAM, at 6:57
9. Giovanni VISCONTI, MOVISTAR TEAM, at 7:47
10. Rafal MAJKA, TINKOFF, at 8:06

Top 10 overall

1. Vincenzo NIBALI, ASTANA PRO TEAM, in 82:44:31
2. Jhoan Esteban CHAVES RUBIO, ORICA – GreenEDGE, at :52
3. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, MOVISTAR TEAM, at 1:17
4. Steven KRUIJSWIJK, TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO, at 1:50
5. Rafal MAJKA, TINKOFF, at 4:37
6. Bob JUNGELS, ETIXX – QUICK STEP, at 8:31
7. Rigoberto URAN URAN, CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING TEAM, at 11:47
8. Andrey AMADOR BIKKAZAKOVA, MOVISTAR TEAM, at 13:21
9. Darwin ATAPUMA HURTADO, BMC RACING TEAM, at 14:09
10. Kanstantsin SIUTSOU, DIMENSION DATA, at 16:20