Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk moved closer to a history-making Giro d’Italia triumph after stretching his lead over Esteban Chaves and Vincenzo Nibali in a thrilling 16th stage won by Alejandro Valverde on Tuesday.
Kruijswijk, of the LottoNL-Jumbo team, started the hilly 132km race from Bressanone to Andalo with a lead of 2 minutes, 12 seconds on Colombian Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) and 2 minutes, 51 seconds on 2013 champion and pre-race favorite Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).
Kruijswijk did not have enough in the tank to stop Movistar team leader Valverde, 36, from claiming his maiden stage win on the race after a two-up sprint at the finish.
Photo: AP
On his Giro debut, Movistar leader Valverde has done better than expected, as years of racing experience came to the fore for the Spaniard when he launched a telling attack inside the final 15km.
“It is a good day for me as I move up in the overall standings, although I wanted a stage win as a gift for the mechanics, directors, my family... all the people who have helped me overcome the day I had on Saturday because of the altitude,” Valverde said.
“We wanted to break the race up today. It is a great feeling to win for the first time at the Giro,” he added.
Chaves crossed the finish line 42 seconds in arrears, with Nibali finishing nearly two minutes behind, alongside compatriot Domenico Pozzovivo.
Chaves remains second, but is 3 minutes behind Kruijswijk, with Valverde moving up to third at 3 minutes, 23 seconds and Nibali, the 2014 Tour de France champion, dropping one place to fourth at 4 minutes, 43 seconds.
Italian champion Nibali had been at the forefront all day, but came up short on the final climb, the Fai della Paganella, following an attack by Valverde.
There were only 15km remaining and Kruijswijk was quickly on to the Spaniard’s wheel. Nibali, by this time, had used up most of his fuel. He dropped back to a chasing group that contained Chaves.
Nibali has now lost time to Kruijswijk on the past two stages, having been only 41 seconds behind the Dutchman after Saturday’s “Queen Stage” in the Dolomites.
Kruijswijk keeps going from strength to strength.
“I was feeling really good, so I had to make the best of this short, but really hard, stage,” Kruijswijk said. “I had to follow Nibali when he attacked early in the stage. I did not expect so much action the day after the rest day.”
A day after Nibali promised to bite into his deficit, he must recover on stages 17 and 18 before the race for the pink jersey resumes in earnest with two big days in the mountains tomorrow and on Saturday.
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