Welcome to our live coverage of the penultimate stage of the 2018 Giro d'Italia, the final showdown in the battle for the pink jersey.
The morning after the night before... You wake up with a dry mouth and a foggy head, and soon comes that panicked moment of tension: 'What on earth happened?' Slowly, the disparate fragments of memory begin to align and then sharpen into focus. Bloody hell, it really happened. Chris Froome really did pull off an 80km mountain solo to take the pink jersey.
We're in Susa this morning and it's an early start, with no fewer than 214km on the menu. At the end of three weeks of racing and after yesterday's insanity, the length of this stage is almost cruel. Fortunately for the riders the first half is flat, and many will be willfully shielding their eyes from the second half of the profile. Three first category climbs back-to-back, finishing at Cervinia at 2000 metres. It's another hell of a day.
The riders are signing on and going through the rest of their pre-race rituals. They'll roll out at 10.10 local time, with the race proper set to be waved underway at 10.20.
Before we go anywhere, here's yesterday. Full report, results, photos, video highlights, and over 1500 comments and counting...
Here's how the GC looks this morning. Simon Yates is nowhere to be seen, and Froome leads Dumoulin by 40 seconds, with no one else even within four minutes.
The riders are on the start line and ready to go
And here's Froome in pink
The riders are just completing the neutralised section and then we'll be underway.
Side note, you can pre-order our next film on Vimeo. It's called CRESCENDO, and we're going to focus on the final week of the Giro, with more behind the scenes tales from the race. It's out on June 1 but you can pick it up at our special pre-order price now.
It's another fast and furious start to the day as teams try and position riders in the break. There'll be no shortage of parties interested in the stage win, but also the GC teams might be inclined to send riders up the road to use for their leaders later on.
194km remaining from 214km
It's safe to say Froome's performance yesterday is not sitting easily with some. We haven't seen anything like it for quite some time, that's certainly true. The Italian papers are going as far back as the black-and-white images of Fausto Coppi this morning, but the most handy comparison people seem to be reaching for is Floyd Landis to Morzine at the 2006 Tour. The American snatched the yellow jersey from the jaws of defeat that day, but of course was soon stripped of his title for doping.
Five riders off the front, including Viviani, we're hearing. Maybe he's eyeing up those two intermediate sprints, but he has the maglia ciclamino pretty much sewn up already.
The five riders out front:
The peloton is still chasing and the gap is still slim, so that quintet is by no means away just yet.
183km remaining from 214km
Race information is thin on the ground at the moment but the breakaway has swelled to around 23 and is now gaining a bit more ground. We'll being you the names shortly.
Still more riders are trying to get across to this break, so the race situation is far from settled.
Just live on our site is this excellent feature from Barry Ryan, who captures the scene and the atmosphere at the finish line atop the Jafferau yesterday.
This large break is indeed gaining ground, and as the peloton finally takes its collective foot off the gas the gap goes out beyond three minutes.
Here are the names of the riders we have in the break
149km remaining from 214km
With all the sensation surrounding Froome's performance yesterday, Simon Yates, who had utterly dominated the Giro until two days ago, is something of a forgotten man. He was dropped on the Finestre yesterday and ended up losing nearly 40 minutes. He's now 17th overall. As implosions go, it's right up there. Yates is in the blue mountains jersey today but it's only on loan from Froome. He'll just want to get this Giro over with as quickly as possible. Here's his reaction yesterday.
It's Astana doing the work back in the bunch, and they've clipped a bit off the break's advantage.
129km remaining from 214km
Here's a reminder of the stage profile
The break is coming up to the intermediate sprint now.
Here's how things stand in the points classification
Viviani, predictably, crosses the line first to take maximum points.
The peloton crosses the intermediate sprint some five minutes in arrears.
Movistar have come through to help Astana on the front of the peloton.
Astana are one of the few teams to have missed this break and they're keeping these 27 riders on a relatively short leash, possibly thinking about a possible stage win later. The gap is five minutes, but that's nothing when you think of the pace the GC riders will be going up these upcoming climbs.
Here's a shot of Viviani driving the break clear earlier on.
100km remaining from 214km
Whereas yesterday served up the mighty Colle delle Finestre, there was also the gentler climb to Sestriere and the short - albeit steep - final haul up the Jafferau, and also plenty of valley roads in between.
More on the climbs, along with comments from Chris Froome this morning, in this latest story from Barry Ryan.
A little word on Cervinia, which might be ringing some bells. Yes, Fabio Aru won here in the final week three years ago (No repeat in prospect, as Aru abandoned yesterday). Yes, Ryder Hesjedal took the maglia rosa back from Joaquim Rodriguez here in 2012. And yes, Ivan Gotti won here to usurp Pavel Tonkov and win his first Giro in 1997.
Side note, you can pre-order our next film on Vimeo. It's called CRESCENDO, and we're going to focus on the final week of the Giro, with more behind the scenes tales from the race. It's out on June 1 but you can pick it up at our special pre-order price now.
90km remaining from 214km
84km remaining from 214km
And now the climbing begins!
The first climb is the Col Tsecore, and this is what it looks like
The breakaway starts to thin out on the lower slopes. Meanwhile the peloton is approaching the climb with Astana still on the front.
About 10 riders have been shelled out of the break so far as Kreuziger sets the pace.
Kreuziger and Nieve have been let off the leash today, after Yates' dramatic implosion yesterday. Nieve, who'd been injured ahead of this Giro, had been saved for this brutal final week, but his job never really began, with Yates showing signs of weakness on Thursday and then cracking completely on Friday. Both Nieve and Kreuziger have won stages at the Giro in the past.
Credit to Androni for getting literally half of their team in the break today. Gianni Savio's men been a constant in the breaks at this Giro and they're finishing with a bang.
Astana continue their charge, setting the pace in the peloton on the lower slopes of the climb. Half a minute quickly comes off the gap.
Simon Yates dropped
It's an utterly miserable end to what had not long ago been such a great Giro for Simon Yates. The Mitchelton-Scott rider's legs are stilly empty, and he can't live with the tempo being set by Astana. He's out of the back and will ship minutes once again.
Conti pushes on in the break, where a selection of around 10 has been made.
Leading the race now, we have:
74km remaining from 214km
Mohoric attacks and opens up a small gap.
Astana, of course, have Miguel Angel Lopez in fourth overall and in the white jersey for best young rider. He's 47 seconds up on Richard Carapaz in that competition, and securing that jersey is an obvious priority, though the podium isn't out of reach, with 40 seconds separating him from Thibaut Pinot.
Mohoric is brought back to the break as Lammertink and Visconti are dropped.
5:20 is the gap now, between the nine leaders and the Astana-led peloton, who are setting a steadier tempo now. The bunch has nevertheless been thinned out.
"A little disappointed," is how Tom Dumoulin described himself yesterday evening. He might have entertained the idea of Yates cracking but he surely couldn't have imagined the maglia rosa passing to anyone but himself. He now finds himself with 40 seconds to make up on a Chris Froome who put everyone to the sword yesterday. Here's his reaction to yesterday's events.
69km remaining from 214km
Ciccone could, in theory, claim the mountains classification today, but he'd have to be first over all three climbs, including taking the stage win at Cervinia. He's fifth in the standings on 52 points, with Froome out front on 123.
And Ciccone comes to the front now in the final kilometre of the climb.
67km remaining from 214km
Astana lead the peloton over the top of the Col Tsecore, 5:30 in arrears. It's all relatively calm for the time being.
Here's Froome on the climb
We know all about Mohoric's descending skills, and he's using them here to open up a gap once his breakaway companions.
We're descending for nearly 20km. Here's a reminder of the stage profile
Still Astana lead the peloton. Froome and Sky tucked in behind.
Side note, you can pre-order our next film on Vimeo. It's called CRESCENDO, and we're going to focus on the final week of the Giro, with more behind the scenes tales from the race. It's out on June 1 but you can pick it up at our special pre-order price now.
50km remaining from 214km
Meanwhile his teammate Visconti is also descending well. He was dropped on the climb but is back in the main breakaway, which is now a group of 9 chasing Mohoric.
44km remaining from 214km
Here's what the climb looks like
Mohoric still has 30 seconds, and the peloton is now at 6:30. It's starting to look like the break might just have a chance. A lot will depend on how the GC teams ride this penultimate climb. If one team really decides to take it up and shred the bunch then the gap could tumble. Sky ripped it up early yesterday, of course, but with the pink jersey on the shoulders of Froome there's no onus on them to try anything today, and instead we should see a more conservative approach.
Pinot dropped!
My oh my. Another twist in this Giro. The Frenchman has almost ground to a halt on this climb.
Pinot has three teammates with him and he's taking on some food. He's spinning his lowest gear at an alarmingly slow rate. Put simply, his legs look completely empty.
Pinot swings and nearly rides into his team car as he gets a gel. He's like a disoriented boxer stumbling around in the ring after a heavy blow.
Astana's pacemaking, then, is paying off. Lopez is riding onto the podium.
Pinot is already 1:40 down. This looks terminal.
Meanwhile up in the break Mohoric has lost ground and has actually been dropped, along with Visconti. Nieve leads the way with Brambilla, Woods, Ciccone, Grosschartner, and Gesink hanging on.
37km remaining from 214km
Meanwhile it's Luis Leon Sanchez leading the peloton, with Lopez tucked in second wheel. The gap is six minutes.
Pinot's dreams of the podium - and he was dreaming after being so upset at missing out so narrowly last year - have evaporated. At this rate he'll crash out of the top 10 and plummet down the standings.
Pinot has four teammates with him now and they each put a hand on his back. He's hunched over his bars spluttering as he pedals at just a few kilometres per hour. This is sad to see. He is well and truly cooked. His rivals ale already six minutes up the road. Just finishing now will be a huge challenge.
34km remaining from 214km
The race forgets about Pinot and Astana continue their charge. Still Team Sky are tucked in behind, followed by Movistar and then Sunweb a little further down. Dumoulin wears a pained expression but looks to be pedalling fluidly. He needs to go on the offensive today but it seems he'll be putting it all on the final climb.
Still the leaders have 6:38, and if they can hold that sort of advantage over the top of this climb then they have every chance of stage honours.
Nieve attacks. Grosschartner goes with him but Brambilla has no response.
And Nieve kicks again, and this time Grosschartner is dropped. The Spaniard is clearly coming into form in this final week, after an injury disrupted his pre-race preparations. Mitchelton-Scott would have preferred if he was guiding Yates to overall victory today, but a victory here would something of a consolation.
Astana continue set a steady tempo at the head of the peloton, which still contains more than 30 riders.
Lutsenko pulls over and almost grinds to a halt. His day is done and it's over to Sanchez again to lead the way.
29km remaining from 214km
27km remaining from 214km
Astana continue to tap it out further down the mountain. The gap has yawned out to 8 minutes, and Nieve looks well on his way to a third career Giro stage win.
Ciccone, Gesink, Woods, Brambilla are all already 1:40 down on Nieve. We haven't had a check on Grosschartner in a while, so not sure if he's tracking Nieve down.
A quick check on Pinot. He's 22 minutes down on the front of the race - that's nearly 14 minutes down on the GC group.
We've had confirmation that Chris Froome's bike was X-rayed after yesterday's stage to check for a hidden motor, using the UCI's new technology. The bikes of the top eight riders were all checked.
8:20 now for Nieve. Sanchez is leading the peloton towards the top of the climb but the pace has been knocked off a little. Understandable, I guess, when part of the job has already been done and Lopez is sitting pretty in a virtual podium position.
20km remaining from 214km
17km remaining from 214km
Sky take over from Astana on this descent, with Froome on the wheel of Puccio. Still plenty of Sky jerseys to protect Froome on the final climb.
Here it is
15km remaining from 214km
Sky still on the front on the approach to the final climb.
@giroditalia: Daily postcard from #Giro101 | Cartolina dal #Giro101 #Giro
Puccio, Elissonde, De La Cruz, Henao, Froome.
Mechanical for Gesink, and that might just end his hopes today.
Nieve still looks strong as he takes on these steady gradients. Grosschartner is still chasing alone but we haven't got an accurate time gap at the moment.
Movistar take over from Sky now in the peloton. They have Richard Carapaz in fifth overall - fourth now since Pinot's decline - and looking to take the white jersey off the shoulders of Lopez.
10km remaining from 214km
Still no sign of Dumoulin or Sunweb taking it on here. The 2017 champion is biding his time but is running out of road. I guess his only hope now is to launch one big attack in the final couple of kilometres and hope Froome's legs feel the effects of yesterday's efforts.
Grosschartner is 1:40 down. Barring a collapse, Nieve is on his way to victory.
7km remaining from 214km
De La Parte is doing a big turn here. Just 16 riders left in the maglia rosa group now.
It's De La Parte, then Betancur, then Carapaz for Movistar. Lopez is alert and positioned on the wheel of his white jersey rival. Henao and Froome are next in line, followed by Dumoulin and Oomen for Sunweb.
De La Parte's job is done. Over to Betancur.
Poels right at the back of this group.
Henao is the only rider left for Froome.
Dumoulin attacks!
It had to happen, and here it is!
The group has exploded.
Just Dumoulin, Froome, Carapaz, Lopez, Pozzovivo, and Formolo left.
Formolo attacks.
They ease up and the dropped riders come back. Oomen, himself in the top 10, attacks now.
Dumoulin goes again!
He's brought back once more, but now goes again!
So Dumoulin is opting for a flurry of attacks to try to soften Froome.
And now Froome goes!
Dumoulin's right at the back of the group...
Froome works his way back
Formolo still with a few bike lengths.
A lull now.
This is still a long way out. Nieve is 4.5km from the finish and these GC guys are 8 minutes down the road.
Gesink has recovered from his mechanical and has caught and dropped Grosschartner.
Poels is dragging his way back to the GC group. Dumoulin calls for Oomen to set a high pace.
Poels is back in
Dumoulin goes again in a tunnel!
Froome responds once again.
They've caught Formolo now
And Froome counter-attacks again!
The maglia rosa is looking strong here
Dumoulin dropped!
Dumoulin shakes his head, he's losing ground here.
Carapaz goes now. Lopez and Froome follow.
Dumoulin isn't in crisis mode but it's almost impossible to see him winning the Giro from here.
Carapaz ploughs on but Lopez is on the wheel. Froome is there on the wheel as Pozzovivo and Formolo start to drag themselves across.
Dumoulin is slipping back now. His challenge is over, surely.
Nieve is into the final 2km and he still looks cool and composed.
Dumoulin is starting to drag his way back, as he does. Froome comes to the front of the group and lifts the pace.
The group is slowing up again and Dumoulin gets back in.
And now Froome and Dumoulin's respective teammates, Poels and Oomen, get back in.
Froome, Lopez, Carapaz, Pozzovivo, Formolo, Dumoulin, Oomen, Poels. They're the 8 riders in that maglia rosa group.
1km remaining from 214km
Nieve knows he has this in the bag as he messages in on the radio
Nieve comes to the line and sits up
He punches the air with both arms as he wins his third Giro stage.
A worthy win for Nieve but our attention must return back down the mountain.
Carapaz attacks!
Lopez responds immediately.
The two young riders are away, and this is simply a fight for the white jersey. Dumoulin and Froome aren't responding.
Robert Gesink comes to the line for second place. A nice ride considering his mechanical.
Oomen leads the way for Dumoulin. Does the 2017 champion have anything left?
Grosschartner seals third place.
Oomen started the day 10th overall but is putting time into Konrad, Bennett, and Bilbao.
Lopez remains glued to Carapaz's wheel.
The GC riders come into the final kilometre
Ciccone takes fourth on the stage and Brambilla fifth.
Here come the GC riders into the final few hundred metres. Lopez and Carapaz aren't far ahead anymore.
A sprint from Poels sees them overtake Carapaz and Lopez.
Froome comes home alongside Poels and shakes his teammate's hand.
A downcast Dumoulin crosses the line just behind Froome.
About a minute behind come Bilbao, Bennett, and Konrad.
Froome is mobbed by the media at Cervinia
Stage top 10
Here's a quick reaction from Dumoulin, speaking in Dutch.
A first shot of Nieve on the line
Here's Lopez, who finishes on the podium of a Grand Tour for the first time in his career.
General Classification after stage 20
And now we can hear from Froome
More from Froome
Froome pulls on the maglia rosa on the podium in Cervinia
We can now see Pinot has finally finished. He's almost vomiting up there. A sorry end to his Giro.
Here's our full report page
The moment Froome crossed the line
Here's Nieve
Here's all your instant post-stage reaction in one place
Rohan Dennis finished with Pinot in the gruppetto. Not a good end to a decent enough Giro from the Australian, who fell out of the top 10 yesterday and now plummets down the standings.
A brilliant shot that captures the moment this contest was decided.
More from Dumoulin, this time in English
Pinot
Side note, you can pre-order our next film on Vimeo. It's called CRESCENDO, and we're going to focus on the final week of the Giro, with more behind the scenes tales from the race. It's out on June 1 but you can pick it up at our special pre-order price now.
That's it for our live coverage today. Thanks for joining us. Just one day to go! We'll be back right here tomorrow for live coverage of the final jaunt in Rome. In the meantime, keep an eye on Cyclingnews.com for all the big stories from the final decisive day at the Giro. Ciao!
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