Before giro triumph: nibali also wins on 20. Stage
The sicilian defended his title with the win of the penultimate stage of the 96th edition of the race. He has won the pink jersey for the entire 210 kilometers of the giro d’italia and will start his triumphant ride on sunday towards brescia, where this year’s tour of italy will end, with a lead of 4:43 minutes over the colombian rider rigoberto uran.
The 20 stage, which was decided due to bad weather conditions, had to be. Stage, which started in schlanders, was won single-handedly by nibali. The 28-year-old had pulled away from the competition on the final climb up to the three peaks and won the race 17 and 19 seconds ahead of the two colombians fabio andres duarte and uran respectively. Uran knocked former tour de france winner cadel evans (5:52 minutes back) from second place in the overall standings.
For nibali it will be the biggest triumph of his career. After finishing third in 2010 and second a year later, the 28-year-old has now scored a major coup in his home country, succeeding canadian ryder hesjedal. Nibali had already shown his qualities as a cyclist by finishing third in last year’s tour de france and winning the vuelta in 2010.
Nibali had already shown his mastery on thursday when he won the mountain time trial from mori to polsa in superior style. Over 20.6 kilometers he had been almost a minute faster than olympic champion samuel sanchez. Time trial specialist evans had beaten nibali by as much as 2:36 minutes.
On saturday nibali loved to follow the next parforceride. After the 19. After the last leg of the race was completely cancelled on friday, the route of the 20 km stage was also cancelled. Stage had to be changed considerably. Due to the persistent bad weather – snow-covered slopes formed the scenery during the ride through sudtirol – the originally planned dolomite climbs karerpass, passo san pellegrino and passo giau had to be taken out of the program. At least the mountain finish at the three peaks was preserved.
And there nibali was riding in a league of his own. A few kilometers before the finish, which was presented as a winter sports resort due to heavy snowfall, he left all the competition standing and took his second stage victory in this year’s giro. Evans had a bitter day, losing almost two minutes and slipping to third overall. At least the riders will be spared a "snowball fight" on sunday. On the 197-kilometer stage from riese pio X to brescia, the sprinters will again be in the spotlight.
