Heart-pounding final time trial: up for grabs, in the last 29,3 km that go from the Monza racetrack to Milan's Piazza Duomo, is the Giro, a pink jersey that today is played on the edge of seconds given that 20 were not enough stages and 3585 kilometers to find a definitive master. The classification has never been so short on the last day of racing with six runners enclosed in a minute and a half, the first four even in 53 seconds. Even yesterday's stage, the last mountain stage with the ascent to Monte Grappa and Foza before the arrival in Asiago, saw the sprint victory of Thibaut Pinot over Zakarin, Nibali, Quintana and Pozzovivo, did not loose the yellow of the Giro. Tom Dumoulin, great favorite of today's time trial, suffered again on the Foza climb but finding occasional allies in Mollema, a Dutchman like him, and in Jungels, he managed to limit the gap to 15” which was enough to slip him out of the podium area at fourth place, overtaken – thanks to time bonuses – also by Nibali and Pinot, but too little for him not to be the one predestined to win this Giro.
"Better than nothing", Quintana commented at the end of the stage, still in the pink jersey, thinking of the handful of seconds gained against Dumoulin, even if the advantage that had risen from 38" to 53" cannot reassure the Condor that he would have wanted for himself a more favorable outcome than the last stage for climbers. But the race said that the Colombian after having mastered the Blockhaus was no longer up to making the difference on his favorite terrain, neither on the Stelvio and the Dolomites, nor yesterday on Monte Grappa and the hairpin bends of Foza. The Colombian, finishing fourth, also saw the possibility of forfeiting the bonuses that went to Pinot (10"), Zakarin (6") and Nibali (4") vanish. The game of seconds and bonuses brought Nibali to second place in the standings 39" from Quintana and 14" ahead of Dumoulin while Pinot, who stage after stage has authoritatively grown up to fight not only for the podium but for the same victory in the Giro, he is now third at 43" from the pink jersey, with a 10" advantage over Dumoulin. At 1'15 Zakarin is fifth ahead of Pozzovivo sixth at 1'30”.
Given the odds of the bookmakers, the Giro would practically be in the hands of Dumoulin, quoted after the outcome of Asiago 1,25 against 7,50 for Quintana and 12 for Nibali and Pinot. Closed game? Certainly yes if Dumoulin confirms that he is the TGV who was in the Sagrantino time trial in Montefalco, but after so many climbs and three weeks of racing tiredness - and Dumoulin spent plenty of energy to defend himself in the last stages - could shave off the values running. It is the hope that Quintana relies on to be able to repeat the success of 2014, but also Nibali and Pinot who don't seem at all resigned to losing the Giro.
