Solo la vittoria è bella – 'Only victory is beautiful' – reads the tattoo on Thibaut Pinot's right arm, and the Frenchman with a very public predilection for all things Italian was loath to let his debut Giro d'Italia pass by without recording a stage win.
After gaining more than a minute on his rivals on the Dolomite tappone on Thursday and then impressing at Piancavallo on Friday, it was clear that Pinot was, perhaps alone among the overall contenders, in crescendo as the Giro reached its final day in the mountains on stage 20.
The FDJ man may be in Italy in search of a place on the final podium in Milan, but as the leading group crested the summit of the Giro's final climb of Foza and rode towards Asiago, his thoughts flipped towards claiming the day's spoils.
ADVERTISEMENT
Pinot had maglia rosa Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r La Mondiale) for company in the finale. With Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) chasing just 15 seconds behind, there was little time to take one another's measure in the final kilometre, but Pinot produced a fine sprint to edge out Zakarin and Nibali on the line.
"A stage victory is not more important than riding for GC but this is why I'm a bike rider," Pinot said. "I fight to win races. And it's certainly a nice one today, against the top contenders of the Giro."
Pinot was present and alert when Nibali and Quintana accelerated on the Foza, and seemed the most inclined towards a steady collaboration as they proceeded towards the summit and slowly clawed back Pozzovivo and Zakarin. The cooperation seemed to improve on the altopiano towards the line, though Dumoulin managed to halve his maximum deficit by the finish.
The final podium
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2r7UuhP
No comments:
Post a Comment