Movistar's Nairo Quintana started the final time trial of the 100th Giro d'Italia in the maglia rosa but as widely expected, there was nothing he could do to stop Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) from snatching overall victory in Milan's Piazza Duomo.
Quintana finished 27th in the stage 21 time trial, 1:24 down on Dumoulin. That was more than enough for the Dutchman to win but Quintana did manage to hold off Vincenzo Nibali to finish second overall, 31 seconds behind after three intense and aggressive weeks of racing.
"We worked hard and rode well but you can't always get what you aim for in a bike race," Quintana said philosophically after climbing on the final podium in Milan and hearing the many Colombian fans shout his name rather than that of Dumoulin.
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Despite an often tense battle with Dumoulin and stares across the podium area as the warmed down on the rollers, Quintana sportingly praised Dumoulin for his performance and first ever Grand Tour victory.
"Tom was very strong, and we're still on the podium and that is still important," Quintana said.
"I could have done better in the mountains but my legs weren't great. We knew that we needed to take more time on him against the clock but it's hard for me against a specialist like Tom. We did a great time trial. Some said that we could lose a place on the final podium but that didn't happen. In truth I was still thinking about possibly winning the Giro, and so to finish second, well, that's not bad."
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