Sunday 29 May 2016 11:25, UK
Vincenzo Nibali will be crowned winner of the 2016 Giro d’Italia on Sunday after completing one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent memory on stage 20 in the Alps.
Having been 4min 43sec adrift of the pink jersey and seemingly out of contention with three stages to go, the 31-year-old Italian reduced his deficit to 44 seconds by winning Friday's 19th stage and then moved to the top of the general classification by finishing 1min 36sec ahead of previous race leader Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) on Saturday.
Nibali (Astana) now leads the Colombian by 52 seconds overall and only has to avoid crashing on a flat and largely processional final stage into Turin on Sunday to win the Giro for the second time in his career.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) will finish the race in third, 1min 17sec behind Nibali, after leapfrogging Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) on the 20th stage, which contained three category-one climbs and then a category-three summit finish in Sant'Anna di Vinadio.
Nibali told Eurosport: "It is a crazy Giro. It has been difficult for me; exhausting. I started and I was the favourite and I felt all the pressure, but I have put on this great show in the last days and it feels even more amazing.
"I thought that everything was lost. Many riders were telling me that I could still do things, and I understood that something could happen. So yesterday I attacked. I never gave up.
"I understood that I could really have a go today. When I was climbing I felt good, so I waited and then I attacked when we got up to altitude."
Having used his Astana team-mates to thin the peloton down, Nibali launched what would turn out to be the race's decisive attack on the penultimate climb of the day, the Colle della Lombarda, with about 15km of the 134km distance remaining.
Although Chaves and Valverde initially followed, Nibali was back in the irresistible form he had shown 24 hours earlier and soon dropped them both as he set about eating into his 44-second overall deficit.
Chaves and Valverde were subsequently joined by a second Colombian, Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale), who vowed to help his compatriot and immediately moved to the front of the trio in a bid to chase down Nibali.
However, Uran's tempo proved too strong for the wilting Chaves and the 26-year-old was forced to drop back to a chasing group containing Kruijswijk and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff).
It then became a matter of damage limitation, but Chaves could not arrest his collapse and was unable to deny Nibali one of the most unlikely grand tour victories in history.
After crossing the line, Nibali immediately offered his commiserations to Chaves' family, who had been waiting at the finish.
Stage 20 was won by breakaway rider Rein Taaramae (Katusha), who attacked on the penultimate climb and beat Darwin Atapuma (BMC Racing) into second place by 52 seconds and Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale) into third by 1min 17sec.
Stage 20 result
1 Rein Taaramae (Est) Katusha, 4:22:43
2 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing, +52sec
3 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale, +1:17
4 Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky, +4:12
5 Alexander Foliforov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo, +4:36
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +6:44
7 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +6:57
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale, same time
9 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar, +7:47
10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff, +8:06
Selected other
13 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +8:13
14 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, +8:20
General classification
1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, 82:44:31
2 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, +52sec
3 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +1:17
4 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +1:50
5 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff, +4:37
6 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx - Quick-Step, +8:31
7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale, +11:47
8 Andrey Amador (Cos) Movistar, +13:21
9 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing, +14:09
10 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Dimension Data, +16:20
