A demanding task ahead
16 May 2017

Giro d'Italia (st. 10)

Nairo Quintana momentarily cedes Maglia Rosa to sensational Tom Dumoulin (SUN) after Dutchman's dominating display in Foligno TT; Colombian now 2nd overall as Giro gets immediately back to mid-mountains on Wednesday. Amador remains in 9th place

Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) managed to save his day at the long-feared first ITT in the 2017 Giro d'Italia, a 39.8km course from Montefalco to Foligno, under strong winds and over two small hills on a nonetheless perfectly suited journey for time trial specialists.

The Maglia Rosa holder before today's stage conceded 2'53" against day's winner and new pink jersey Tom Dumoulin (SUN), who stormed to a convincing win and put 2'23" over the 'Cóndor', now 2nd, on the GC standings. The Colombian in turn limited losses quite well against Nibali (TBM; 36" over Nairo ), Mollema (TFS; 26" ahead) and Pinot (FDJ; just 11" better). Andrey Amador completed a nice ride for ninth place in the stage, 2'16" behind Dumoulin, and remains in an identical 9th in the general classification.

The Giro won't offer any respite on Wednesday as the peloton tackles one of the most challenging stages in this year's race161km from Florence to Bagno di Romagna, with almost on flat roads and over four long climbs that include the Monte Fumaiolo (Cat-2), whose summit is just 25km from the end.

REACTION:

Nairo Quintana: “We lost more time than we expected, though my legs felt well today. It was a very windy course, which also played against me, and we always had in mind that Dumoulin could make a big gain today, which he proved with an excellent performance – he's just shown how great of a specialist he is. He's showing also great form on the climbs, so he probably is the biggest contender for pink from now. Nibali also fared really strong, and the forces against the other main GC guys seem to be pretty much balanced. We must continue to keep an eye on everyone.

"We'll wait and see how we can build on this, seek for new strategies and gain terrain back for the next few days to try and get that Maglia Rosa back. It's always hard to swallow when you lose a leader's jersey, but I've got strong hopes: our team is fantastic, I'm in good condition and, with all mountains remaining in this Giro, we must keep digging and try to bounce things back."

Results

Picture (c): BettiniPhoto.net