Tom Dumoulin’s Giro d’Italia challenge was all but over on Tuesday when the 2017 champion lost four minutes in a crash near the end of the fourth stage.
Dumoulin, one of the favorites to win the three-week race, hit the ground in a massive pileup about 6km from the line in a 235km ride from Orbetello that was won by Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz.
Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic retained the overall leader’s pink jersey as the crash involving Dumoulin held up several overall contenders.
Photo: AFP
Team Sunweb rider Dumoulin, who started the day in fifth place in the general classification, crossed the finish line surrounded by his teammates, with blood dripping from his left knee.
“X-ray reveals no fracture for Tom Dumoulin,” his team said, but Dumoulin was unsure if he would start yesterday’s fifth stage.
“There are no fractures, which is good, but my knee is very swollen,” he said. “I wasn’t able to push any power in the last few kilometers, so I don’t know how I will be tomorrow. The GC [general classification] is for sure gone.”
Among those held up were twice champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy and Britain’s Simon Yates, who limited the damage in losing 16 seconds to Roglic.
The massive crash appeared to be caused by Italy’s Salvatore Puccio of Team Ineos, who was the first rider to lose his balance and was just avoided by Nibali.
“Salvatore was caught in the crash — apparently he was the one who caused the crash. That happens sometimes, unfortunately,” Team Ineos sports director Nicolas Portal said. “It’s been really technical the past couple of days, the final 30 or 40km. Town after town after town and so we say: ‘It’s Italy.’”
Team Jumbo-Visma rider Roglic led Yates by 35 seconds and Nibali by 39 going into yesterday’s fifth stage, a 140km stretch from Frascati to Terracina.
While Dumoulin was struggling to pedal to reach the line, Carapaz was the strongest of a small group in an uphill finish, holding off sprint specialist Caleb Ewan of Australia and Italy’s Diego Ulissi.
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