As the Giro d'Italia pauses for its third and final rest day, the question facing Nairo Quintana, Thibaut Pinot and Vincenzo Nibali is simple: how do you solve a problem like Tom Dumoulin?
The answer is rather less straightforward. Dominant in the Montefalco time trial and imperious on the mountaintop finish at Oropa, Dumoulin is armed with a commanding lead of 2:41 over Quintana, 3:21 over Pinot and 3:40 over Nibali, as well as a growing sense that the race is his to lose.
Dumoulin's strength thus far has been startling, prompting some to paint him as a latter-day Miguel Indurain, a seemingly perfect prototype with no obvious weaknesses. Or, as Il Corriere della Sera pointedly put it after Oropa, "A placid Frankenstein, too monstrous to be true." The newspaper claimed Dumoulin's power to weight ratio on Oropa to be a huge 6.5kg/W, though the calculation appears to have been based on a body mass of 68 to 69kg. In an interview on RAI television on Sunday, meanwhile, Dumoulin said his weight remained between 70 and 71kg.
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Whatever the true figures – and Dumoulin has expressed his willingness to release his power data after the race, as he did following his breakout 2015 Vuelta a España – the simple fact that the Dutchman caught and ultimately dropped Quintana on Oropa suffices to underline just how astonishing his level of performance has been thus far.
Dumoulin, however, is more aware than most the Giro route has played to his strengths over the opening two weeks. The Montefalco time trial was made to measure for a rider of his qualities. The summit finishes at the Blockhaus and Oropa came after flat run-ins, and Dumoulin already showed his ability to cope with such short and intense efforts at the 2015 Vuelta, most notably when he beat Chris Froome to win atop Cumbre del Sol.
The chasing pack
- Giro d'Italia: Nibali and Quintana can be allies of circumstance against Dumoulin
- Giro d'Italia: Pinot limits the damage on Oropa to stay in podium fight
- Quintana survives Giro d'Italia crash scare to place second in Bergamo
- Giro d'Italia: Dumoulin shows his sporting side after Quintana crashes
- Nibali admits a third Giro d'Italia victory could be out of reach
- Giro d'Italia: Will Dumoulin keep the climbers at bay? - Podcast
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