The sporting battle between Tom Dumoulin, Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali morphed into a war of words after the finish of stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia in Ortisei, ending 17 stages of mutual respect and fair play.
Dumoulin calmly responded to the combined attacks by Nibali and Quintana on the penultimate climb of the Passo Gardena, but then vented his anger post-stage at what he saw as a clear sign of a pact between his two closest rivals on the final climb.
Before pulling on a fresh pink jersey, Dumoulin slammed Nibali and Quintana for combining against him.
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"They are only focusing on me and trying to make me lose instead of trying to win. In the last moments, they lost a lot of time to the other competitors. I really hope that riding like this they will lose their podium spot in Milan, that would be really nice, and I would be really happy," he told Eurosport.
As Tejay van Garderen and Mikel Landa were fighting for the stage victory up the climb, Dumoulin responded to several attacks and then put two of his own in, asserting his authority over the front group and his rivals. Angry that Nibali and Quintana refused to work together or chase attacks, Dumoulin then refused to make a move when Thibaut Pinot and Domenico Pozzovivo leapt clear.
With Nibali and Quintana sitting behind, Pinot charged to third on the stage, earning a four second time bonus - enough to whittle his gap to Dumoulin to 1:36. He is now more of a threat to Nibali's third place, just 1:12 behind the defending champion, with Quintana still in second overall at just 31 seconds.
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In control in the Dolomites
Stage 18 highlights
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