Giro d'Italia: Thibaut Pinot wins stage 20 to set up thrilling finale

Thibaut Pinot won a thrilling 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia to set up a potentially enthralling final day on Sunday.

Nairo Quintana held on to the leaders' pink jersey but may not have gained a large enough lead over Tom Dumoulin, who managed to limit his losses ahead of Sunday's race-concluding time trial.

Dumoulin dropped from second to fourth in the standings but is only 53 seconds behind Quintana and still holds a great chance, considering his time-trialling prowess.

Quintana finished fifth on the day and leads overall by 39 seconds from defending champion and home favourite Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), with Pinot's victory moving him into third place overall at 43 seconds down.

The 20th stage into Asiago came to life on the final climb of the 191km stage from Pordenone, the Forza, as Ilnur Zakarin and Domenico Pozzovivo - who started the day fifth and sixth overall respectively - launched an attack, before Nibali, Quintana and Pinot formed a chasing group behind.

They were all looking to gain precious seconds on Dumoulin, wary of what the Olympic time trial silver medallist might be able to do on the streets of Milan on Sunday.

Zakarin and Pozzovivo reached the summit, still 14.8km from home, with a lead of 14 seconds over Quintana's group, with Dumoulin a further 20 seconds back.

The front five then came together to push for home, while Dumoulin joined up with Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) and Great Britain's Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) - the two riders battling for the best young rider's white jersey.

They did their best to close the gap but could not latch on to the front five and Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) made
an early push on the finishing straight, before FDJ's Pinot responded to snatch victory.

Katusha's Zakarin and Nibali - who took four bonus seconds - were second and third, ahead of Pozzovivo and Quintana, while Dumoulin eventually crossed the line 15 seconds back.

The 26-year-old Dutchman, chasing a first grand tour victory, looked shattered as he crossed the line, but few had much left in the tank, which only adds to the intrigue ahead of Sunday's 29.3km time trial from Monza to Milan.

Nibali is no slouch in a time trial and the general classification could hardly be closer, with only 90 seconds separating Quintana in pink from Pozzovivo in sixth.

Pinot said: "I'm very happy to win this stage, ahead of some of the best riders in this Giro.

"I came for a stage victory, which I'm very happy about because it's always special to win a stage on a grand tour.

"But to win the Giro I will need to have one of the best days of my life on the bike. In any case, I'll give it everything."

Dumoulin did not lose as much time as he had on Friday and said: "Luckily, I had better legs than yesterday.

"I absolutely killed myself, but I'm forever thankful and grateful to the help from Bauke Mollema, Adam Yates and Bob Jungels.

"It all depends on the legs tomorrow."