The Colombian climber finished third on the stage, 53 seconds down on Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) but gained enough time on Kruijswijk to become only the third Colombian to ever wear the maglia rosa. He now leads Nibali by 44 seconds, with Kruijswijk third at 1:05 but injured and fatigued after his crash and chase.
Kruijswijk was with Chaves and Nibali over the top of the Colle dell’Agnello but then crashed at high speed into a snowbank. He needed to change his bike but lost more and more time as Nibali, Chaves and a combination of other riders drove hard all the way to the finish in Risoul.
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"We’ll never know what would have happened. We can’t reverse events in life," Chaves said intelligently. "That’s cycling, the race was on. It only takes one error and you can crash. Zakarin crashed too, and if either I or Nibali had made a mistake, it could have happened to us. I hope that this jersey doesn’t seem to be worth less.
Chaves could smile and enjoy his moment in the pink leader’s jersey, but the Giro d’Italia is not over until Sunday. Before then Chaves and Orica-GreenEdge will have to defend their 44 second advantage on a resurgent Nibali, with Kruijswijk only 1:05 behind despite his crash and long chase.
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
