Giro d'Italia 2017 **spoilers**

[Crackle]

Pretty good effort from Quintana to stay 2nd. I fancied he'd drop off the podium today. Very, very pleased for Dumoulin though.

 

[Strathlubnaig]

most entertaining GT in quite a while, right down to the last km of the last rider, well deserved victory for Dumoulin. Pity about Pinot though.

 

[suzeworld]

What a bloody great tour. Such a nail-biter right to the end. I am so happy for Tom Dumoulin and Holland too ...

The commentator said he could see a smile start on Dumoulin's face about 30 seconds before the smile did actually start, up to then Tom looked like he could burst into tears, or throw-up or even explode, he was so hyper-stressed ...

then gradually a smile did start to play about his face, when he saw Quintana only had a minute to play with and Tom just KNEW the distance was too much to do in a minute. Then he had to hide that confidence with more swipes of his towel ... Amazing spectacle

Amazing riding. Great Grand Tour for the 100th Giro.

Thanks for the thread, too, always adds a bit of interest to read everyone's banter.

See y'all at the next one!

 

[psmiffy]

I assume the next one the Grande departe will be in Dalmatia

 

[ColinJ]

I just watched the Eurosport highlights video - well done, Dumoulin!

 

[Adam4868]

Just watched and was a nailbiter to the end ! So glad he won it,i cant believe he had that energy after 3 weeks ! Credit.to Nibali,i didnt think he would stay in 2nd

 

[Crackle]

This is a nice story about Giuseppe Fonzi, last man in the Giro and with a name like that, the associations are obvious, so why not play to them

http://road.cc/content/news/223326-...ppe-fonzi-rocks-giro-time-trial-black-leather

Cool!!

 

[Apollonius]

What a Giro that was! Mrs A and I were fortunate enough to be in Italy for part of he last two weeks and even got to see the trophy close-up as it was on display in Milan. We stayed near Zogna, which is close to where Felice Gimondi comes from and is really big cycling country. Most of it was seen on RAI 2, but we did find ourselves in a route-side café in Zogna with some locals and a couple of entertainingly crazy Kiwis on the day the peloton stormed through. It was great to be there for the magical 100th. We also got to the start in Rovetta, where you can mix freely with the riders before the start.
We found ourselves rooting for Dumoulin, despite normally being Lotto Jumbo (Bianchi, you see) and Sky supporters (British - sort of, at least). I admire Nibali and rate him as a racer, but he is old news now. Quintana, I cannot warm to. He seems to be ineffective without his team around him, and there is something of the wheel-sucker about him. His attacks are often a bit powderpuff, and fizzle out after a few metres.
To see a big, strong man like Dumoulin taking on the skinny mountain goats on their own territory was great. Every day you wondered if it was not one more set of hideous climbs too many, but he kept on hanging in there, and that stage win really stamped his authority. A star is born!
To finish, I will upload my photo of the trophy in Milan arcade. It is such a beautiful thing - you don't really get the impression of it on TV.

 

[Apollonius]

A few more pictures from our Giro trip. The leading group pass through Zogna, Dumoulin in pink.

 

[Apollonius]

Nibali before the start in Rovetta.

And one of my personal favourites Kirienka, chatting in Russian, I guess!

 

[Apollonius]

Kruijswijk and Quintana, with his posse behind him for once.