Tom Dumoulin’s post-stage routine changed suddenly at the finish atop Piancavallo, with the Dutchman free to ride to his Team Sunweb bus and warm down on the rollers after losing the maglia rosa to Nairo Quintana.
Dumoulin has worn the pink jersey as the Giro d'Italia leader for 10 days since dominating the stage 10 Sagrantino time trial. He survived the need for a sudden toilet stop and stomach problems on stage 16 and kept the jersey with determination and aggression, but he suffered on the climb to Piancavallo as his rivals turned the screws during his bad day.
Dumoulin made things worse by committing what he called ‘a rookie error’ early in the stage when he was caught at the back of the peloton on the descent of the Cima Sappada.
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He and his teammates were forced to chase for a mad half hour as Movistar and Bahrain-Merida split the peloton in an attempt to put the maglia rosa in trouble. The race eventually came back together, with Dumoulin admitting his mistake and so extinguishing the social media storm about fair play and suggestions that Nibali and Quintana had attacked while Dumoulin stopped for a natural break.
"I had bad legs from the start and I made a rookie mistake at the beginning, sitting at the back of the bunch on the downhill. Then Bahrain and Movistar split the bunch and I was in the second group and needed, with my bad legs, to go to the maximum to come back, in the middle of the stage,” Dumoulin admitted as he spun out the pain from his bad legs on the rollers.
“Perhaps Nibali tried to flick me on the downhill today...” he added with a smile and a hint of mischief, knowing that his spat with Nibali and then his apology before the stage start had been the talk of race for the last 24 hours. This time there was no vitriol and accusations, just an honest confession.
Suffering on the climb to Piancavallo
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