A great Grand Tour is only decided on the final mountain stage, with one last battle coming on the final climbs of the race after three weeks of intense competition.
Before Friday's stage to Risoul, Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) seemed virtually unbeatable at this Giro d'Italia, not giving an inch to his rivals since taking the pink jersey in the Dolomites on the stage to Corvara a week ago. He led Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) by three minutes, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) third at 3:23 and a crestfallen Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) a more distant fourth.
Yet Grand Tour racing can be turned on its head in just a moment, via an incident that jeopardises days and days of fatigue and effort. It can be a split-second, a moment of distraction, a desire to eat or drink at the wrong time. Suddenly the Giro d'Italia can flip, like Kruijswijk flipped over his bike and into the snow banking on Friday. It is both the beauty and the cruelty of Grand Tour racing.
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As a consequence of his spectacular crash, Kruijswijk lost a massive 4:54 to stage winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and 4:01 to new race leader Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), who pulled on the maglia rosa as Kruijswijk nursed his wounds. Kruijswijk slipped to third overall at 1:05 and admitted he had lost his chance to become the first ever Dutch winner of the Giro d'Italia. Confirmation that he cracked a rib in the fall compounded his pain and will make it so much harder for him pull back enough time to move past Nibali and Chaves and back into pink.
Chaves could only smile and savour his moment in the pink leader's jersey, but he knows the Giro d'Italia is not over until Sunday. The Colombian and his Orica-GreenEdge mates will have to defend their 44 second advantage on a resurgent Nibali, keep their eye on Kruijswijk, and watch out as the other riders tussle for places on the podium and the final top five during Saturday's last big day out in the Alps.
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