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Simon Yates is still in control of the Giro d'Italia after the British rider limited his losses to closest rival Tom Dumoulin in the individual time trial on Tuesday.
Dumoulin was more than two minutes behind Yates heading into the 16th stage and, as a time trial specialist, it was seen as his best chance of taking the pink jersey from the Mitchelton-Scott cyclist.
However, Yates still leads Dumoulin by 56 seconds heading into the final five stages.This episode of The Cycling Podcast finds Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe in the German-speaking part of northern Italy after another impressive stage win for Simon Yates, who extended his lead in the Giro d’Italia.
But the question is, does Yates have enough of an advantage over Tom Dumoulin to have a chance of winning the Giro bearing in mind the Dutchman could take significant time in Tuesday’s time trial.
We hear from Yates’s sports director Matt White, who was in an extremely upbeat mood, and from Dumoulin and Sunweb’s Marc Reef, who were not feeling so chipper.We also hear from Movistar’s Jose Vicente Garcia Acosta about Richard Carapaz, one of the suprise packages of the race, and from the young Grand Tour debutant Ben O’Connor of Dimension Data. There’s also news of Daniel’s secret mission into Austria.Stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia sees the riders face a crucial 34.2km individual time trial from Trento to Rovereto, which will go a long way to deciding the overall winner of the race in Rome on Sunday.
Despite taking place in the middle of the Alps the course sticks to valley roads and is pan-flat and with few corners, so should suit a powerful pure time triallist.
With race leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) looking in unbeatable climbing form, this stage looks like the only chance for Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) to gain time ahead of a mountainous final week.
As time trial world champion, Dumoulin is the favourite for the stage, but will face stiff competition from specialist time triallists such as Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo) who haven’t had to expend extra energy fighting for the overall.
As the last man in the GC, Giuseppe Fonzi (Wilier-Triestina) will be the first man down the start ramp at 13:20 local time (12:20 BST), with the top 10 starting at three minute intervals from 16:03.Another day, another brilliant stage win for Britain’s Simon Yates, another few precious seconds gained on his nearest rival, the 2017 Giro champion Tom Dumoulin.
But will it be enough? Dumoulin [Team Sunweb], the world time trial champion, is expected to take at least 90secs, possibly as much as two minutes, out of Yates [Mitchelton-Scott] in next Tuesday’s time trial in Trento.
Yates - who currently leads by 48secs - will then have a three further opportunities in the high mountains before the finish in Rome a week on Sunday, to claw back whatever time he gives up in Trento.
It could be touch and go. But boy is it fun to watch.
Yesterday’s win on stage 11, from Assisi to Osimo, was another wonderful demonstration in the art of finishing from the 2013 points race champion who is so much more than just a climber. Yates is a racer.
After the last remnants of the day’s breakaway, led by Alessandro de Marchi [BMC], was swept up with 5km remaining, the GC teams amassed at the front, ready for the finish.
Zdenek Stybar [QuickStep-Floors] and Tim Wellens [Lotto-Soudal] clipped off and tried to make a dash for it, but they too were caught with 1.5km to go.
As the bunch came up to them, Yates did not hesitate, surging into the lead, Dumoulin desperately trying to stay with him. It looked at one stage as if the Dutchman might catch him, too, closing to within 20m or so. But Yates held on to take his second stage win of the race by two seconds, claiming another 10 in bonuses.
The Bury rider stretched his lead out to 48secs over Dumoulin. Not enough yet, certainly, but with a big day to come on the Zoncolan on Saturday, Yates will have another golden opportunity to gain time before the time trial.
The 25 year-old was clearly delighted at the finish, but he added that Dumoulin was looking stronger with each passing day.
"I’d prefer to be getting more time on Tom,” Yates said. "He was really chasing me all the way to the finish there. He looks better than the other day on the steep finishes there. I think he’s getting better as the race goes on, and that’s not good news for me.”
Chris Froome, meanwhile, dropped out of the top 10 once again, unable to stay with the leaders at the finish. The Team Sky rider’s deficit now stands at 3mins20sec and he admitted for the first time afterwards how much his crash in Jerusalem had affected him.
“I’m not going to lie,” Froome said, “You can only hide it for so long. [But] I’m going to keep fighting.”
As will Yates. This race was always billed as Dumoulin vs a British pretender to his crown. It’s just the identity of the pretender everyone was wrong about. What a fascinating Giro this is proving to be.
