The Giro d'Italia giveth, and the Giro d'Italia taketh away. Tom Dumoulin's stock as a contender for final overall victory rose steadily through the opening week of racing, and then suddenly plummeted on the Alpe di Poti on stage 8, where the maglia rosa was abruptly dropped by the general classification contenders as soon as they hit the dirt road section with 6.5 kilometres still to climb, eventually losing 1:10 and dropping to 11th overall.
A little over 24 hours earlier in Sulmona, Giant-Alpecin directeur sportif Marc Reef found himself fielding questions from reporters about whether Dumoulin would be unduly penalised in Sunday's Chianti time trial by having to wear a pink skinsuit provided by the race organisation rather than his tried and tested team issue kit. But then, the best-laid schemes have a longstanding habit of going off course at the Giro.
All week, the Italian press has delighted in trotting out Dumoulin's nickname, the ‘Butterfly of Maastricht,' hoping, perhaps, that his tenure in pink would prove to an ephemeral one. Yet while Dumoulin himself had misgivings about his ability to hang tough on the high mountain passes of the third week, nobody expected him to be put to the sword on three miles of bad road in Tuscany.
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The burning question in Arezzo on Saturday evening, then, was whether the day had marked the end of Dumoulin's threat for overall victory in Turin. The man himself felt that it had, saying that he was "returning to Plan A" – targeting the time trials – and forgetting the general classification. Astana manager Giuseppe Martinelli agreed, saying afterwards that he had never seen Dumoulin among the top tier of contenders to begin with.
A dissenting voice came from Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who said that Dumoulin "absolutely" could still win the Giro, while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) warned that the Dutchman could well be back in the pink jersey as soon as Sunday afternoon, following the Chianti time trial.
While that much is undoubtedly true – Dumoulin is still only 1:05 off the lead, after all – his travails on Saturday suggested that, no matter how he fares in the time trial, he will struggle to match the best in the high mountains. As Dumoulin pointed out, he wasn't simply out-climbed by just the pre-race favourites: "Right now 20 or 30 riders were better than me today on the climb, so it makes no sense to go for GC."
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- Nibali to the fore as Giro d'Italia takes on new complexion
- Giro d'Italia: Brambilla's plan comes together on dusty road to Arezzo
- Valverde strikes first blow in 2016 Giro d'Italia on Tuscany climb
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