Giro d'Italia 2016 awards: We celebrate the race's star riders
By Matt Westby
Last Updated: 29/05/16 6:02pm
The Giro d’Italia is over and Vincenzo Nibali has won for the second time.
But the 'Shark of Messina' is not the only rider worth celebrating, because there were plenty of other good - and bad - performances to recognise.
Here, we present our Giro 2016 awards…
Best all-rounder: Bob Jungels
Jungels was already a highly regarded up-and-coming young rider prior to the Giro, but he has shown over the past three weeks just how good and multi-talented he really is.
The fact he finished sixth overall, only 8min 31sec down on Nibali, and led the race for three days is impressive enough, but it was the range of terrains on which he flourished that really stood out.
He finished in the top 10 in all three time trials (one flat, one rolling, one uphill), climbed with the leaders in the mountains and even finished fourth in a sprint. It was a near-flawless all-round display.
Best climber: Steven Kruijswijk
This winner of this award is a tough one to pick given that everyone had good and bad days. There is a temptation to give it to Jungels for far exceeding expectations in the mountains, and likewise to Nibali for his race-winning performances in the final two Alpine stages.
But it goes to Kruijswijk due to the fact his two bad days in the mountains came after he had cracked a rib and suffered several other bumps and bruises in a heavy crash on stage 19.
Prior to that he had looked invincible on the hills and you cannot help but wonder if that would have continued had he not ploughed into that wall of snow on the descent off the Colle dell'Agnello.
Best young rider: Bob Jungels
Jungels was one of the best riders in the race full stop, so it is inevitable to declare him the best young rider.
The next best under-23 was Sebastian Henao, but he finished almost 30 minutes behind Jungels in 17th place overall.
Best sprinter: Marcel Kittel
This was a tight one between Kittel, who won two stages, and Andre Greipel, who won three stages, but Kittel nicks by virtue of the emphatic nature of his victories.
On both stage two and three, he won by such huge margins that there was no one else in shot on the overhead camera when he crossed the line. It was as impressive as sprinting gets.
Best supporting rider: Michele Scarponi
Nibali won the race thanks to his own climbing prowess, but he owes a huge debt of gratitude to the outstanding Scarponi.
The 36-year-old rode superbly and loyally in Nibali's service, repeatedly blowing the peloton to pieces on his team leader's behalf and even sacrificing his own chances of a victory on stage 19 to offer assistance.
Best team: Etixx - Quick-Step
Astana were strong contenders for this award thanks to their strength in depth in the mountains and superb tactics, but not even they were a match for Etixx - Quick-Step.
The Belgian squad won four stages with three riders, had three riders lead the race for a total of six days, and have a walked away with an unexpected sixth place in the general classification. The race could not really have gone any better.
Best breakthrough performance: Primoz Roglic
Jungels would have been a shoe-in for this award given the way he has announced himself as a potential grand tour winner of the future, but not even that was as big a surprise as the performances of the previously unheralded Roglic.
The 26-year-old Slovenian, who is a former ski jumper, only joined the UCI WorldTour this year but missed out on a maiden grand tour victory by just 0.02 seconds on the Giro's opening-stage time trial.
However, he made amends with by winning the 40.5km time trial on stage nine and now has to be regarded as one of the best time-triallists in the world.
Best sportsmanship: Esteban Chaves
After Kruijswijk had hit the wall of snow, lost more than four minutes to his rivals and surrendered the pink jersey, new race leader Chaves was the first person to commiserate with the Dutchman in his post-stage interviews.
When Chaves then lost the pink jersey to Nibali 24 hours later, he didn't sulk or avoid speaking to the media, but instead accepted that he had run out of legs and insisted there were worse things in the world than losing a bike race.
And in one final show of class, when both he and Rigoberto Uran were caught up in a crash on the last stage, Chaves checked to see if his fellow Colombian was OK before chasing back to the peloton.
Biggest disappointment: Domenico Pozzovivo
Pozzovivo has good pedigree at the Giro and while he was never considered a genuine contender for overall victory, a place in the top five should not have been beyond him.
However, he instead finished almost 52 minutes down in 20th place and was only the third-best rider in his own team.
