Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) admitted that he has little chance of winning the Giro d'Italia but won't be throwing in the towel and surrendering before the final time trial to Milan, knowing the he has still to fight for some kind of final podium place.
The Sicilian was hoping to add a third Giro d'Italia to his rich Grand Tour palmares this spring. He tried to gain seconds on Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and his other rivals right to the very end of the mountain stages to Asiago but will start Sunday's decisive time trial to Milan 43 seconds behind Quintana and only 14 seconds ahead of Dumoulin.
If the 29.3km time trial goes as expected, Nibali could go close to moving above Quintana but Dumoulin is highly likely to jump past them both and snatch overall victory and the Maglia Rosa of the 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia.
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Nibali could even be dumped off the final podium, despite all his intense racing and attacks, because Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) is only four seconds behind him in the pre-time trial overall classification after winning Saturday's stage to Asiago and taking a 10-second time bonus. Even Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) is a threat. The Russian is arguably the strongest rider of the final week, is an excellent time trialist and is only 36 down on Nibali.
"I'd love to finish on the top step of the podium. If only it was easy," Nibali said, perhaps summing up his whole Giro d'Italia.
"The general classification is very close. The time trials are the decisive factor in this Giro," he added a little despondently.
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