Nairo Quintana (Movistar) has refused to give up hope of winning the 100th Giro d'Italia, promising to ride the final 29.3km Monza to Milan time trial as best he possibly can in the hope of holding off Sunweb's Tom Dumoulin.
Quintana will start the decisive time trial in the pink jersey but has a lead of only 53 seconds on the Dutchman. He will also have to fight for an eventual place on the podium because Astana's Vincenzo Nibali is only 39 seconds down and FDJ's Thibaut Pinot is only 43 seconds back. The final podium places in Milan will be decided by a handful of seconds.
Quintana lost a substantial 2:53 in the stage 10 time trial in Umbria. That was over a rolling 39.8km course with a strong head wind in the final part. The 29.8km final time trial includes a lap of the Monza motor racing circuit and a blast down to the centre of Milan. It seems to suit Dumoulin perfectly but fatigue is always a factor after three weeks of racing.
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Quintana is expected to lose at least two seconds per kilometre to Dumoulin. That would be a loss of 60 seconds and mean he would lose the pink jersey by a handful of seconds.
However Quintana understandably refused to give up hope of holding onto the pink jersey.
"My lead is not a lot but it could be enough. We'll find out tomorrow," Quintana said of his 53-second advantage.
No regrets about targeting the Giro-Tour double
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