Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

[Kevin S]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Oh yes, it certainly does. Or it gives Chaves a chance to increase his lead further. The descents don't look as treacherous as today's but there are virtually no flat kilometres.

Really hard lines for SK, but I suppose that's cycling. I should have kept my bet on Chaves after all!

[Kevin S]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Astana are going to attack like crazy sending men up the road and setting a high tempo on the climbs. Nibali pretty much always peaks late on in a GT (even in his 2014 TdF win, which he led early, he was attacking and winning stages in the final week), so he'll back himself to win with some bold moves and try to get Chaves to crack. Should be brilliant watching.

[longeared]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Aye, they'll be chucking some combination of Fuglsang, Kangert and Scarponi up the road and waiting for the moment. Astana know how to enact this too, see the Vuelta last year.

[ursus arctos]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Kruijswijk has a fractured rib.

[Wouter D]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Kevchenkeau wrote: Really hard lines for SK, but I suppose that's cycling.

Yeah, it's a rather fundamemtal part of cycling that you don't fall off your bike.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

It all seems rather too calm at the moment.

[ursus arctos]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

One does wonder if they left the challenges too late, but we will see soon.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

It does feel like that. Less than 25km left now, so that's just under an hour of racing, for someone to make a move. Valverde must be the first to attack of he wants a podium finish.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

With 17.5km left the first attacks start, and it's not Valverde.

The lead group suddenly goes down to 8 and contains all the big names on GC.

[ursus arctos]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Chaves looks good

[ursus arctos]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

In the Tour of Belgium, a crash between two motorcycles on a descent has taken out over a dozen riders, with a number now in hospital. The stage has been cancelled.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Nibali attacks, Valverde and Chaves go with him. Valverde looks like he'll take third.

Nibali goes again, this time he opens a gap. He also has a teammate up the road.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Kruijswijk has been dropped and looks like he's slipping from third and a podium finish.

Valverde is attacking Chaves but hasn't broken away from him.

[ursus arctos]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Nibali joins His teammate Tangaert. Chaves gets help from Uran

[Antepli Ejderha]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Chaves cracking now, Uran and Valverde have left him.

Nibali leads by 40 seconds on the road.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Nibali has 55 seconds lead going into the descent.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Rein Taarame is going to produce an excellent ride to win the stage, sadly it's going to be a side note because of the battle for pink.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

More potential drama, Nibali is slowing, Valverde is gaining and Chaves is having a second wind. The Giro is going to be decided by seconds.

[ursus arctos]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

And then it changes.

Nibali wins

[Antepli Ejderha]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Belgian rider Stig Broeckx is in a coma after a crash involving two race motorbikes during Saturday's third stage of the Tour of Belgium.

This isn't good news. It's also the second time he's been involved in a crash with a motorbike this season.

[Kevin S]

Never say Nether again - Giro d'Italia 2016

Excellent Giro, that. Drama to the last. Think back three weeks at how the pink jersey has changed hands:

Dumoulin
Kittel
Dumoulin
Brambilla
Jungels
Amador
Kruijswijk
Chaves
Nibali

With changes on the final two days of GC racing. Unbelievable. Nibali looked dead and buried, even to the Italian media, after losing time midway through the race and suffering mechanical issues. But he saved the best for last as he usually does. And his Astana team mates were vital here too, possibly the difference between him and Chaves winning it.

• Nibali moves up to four grand tour wins.
• Only nine riders in history have won more.
• Three of those are Italians on five wins (Bartali, Gimondi and Binda. Coppi has seven).
• He is one of only six riders to have won all three grand tours.

What a guy.

Incidentally most of the five other riders who have won all three grand tours have attempted, but failed, to win an Olympic gold on the road. So Nibali has a chance this year to have an unrivalled set of honours on his palmarès.

Chaves has surely now cemented his breakthrough. Fabio Aru followed up a podium in the 2014 Giro with strong showings in the following Vuelta and Giro, before winning the Vuelta last year (in which Chaves came fifth). I'm sure it won't be long before the Colombian similarly bags one for himself.

Kruijswijk, too, clearly has a GT win in him. His team need to sort out their priorities a bit with Kruijswijk, Kelderman and Gesink I think. I don't think they gave Kruijswijk the quality of mountain support that he could have used. How about putting them all in the Tour and see what happens, perhaps? The TdF course would, I imagine, usually suit the Dutch team better than the Giro.

Jungels is one for the future - a hugely deserved white jersey. Etixx delivered pretty well through him, Kittel and Brambilla for the first couple of weeks, though they were never likely to go all the way.

Kittel continues to set the benchmark for sprinters - but Greipel really hasn't lost his knack, has he?

Nieve also did fantastically well to win the blue jersey after Sky lost their leader in Landa.

Disappointing Giro for....

Katusha: It all fell apart rather quickly for Zakarin on the toughest climbs and the mountain time trial. Mechanicals didn't help.

Cannondale: Some exciting flashes from Dombrowski and Moser but increasingly it looks like Sky were right to think that Uran is just a bit short of GT-winning capabilities.

AG2R: Pozzo finished a long way back in the end, and they didn't really threaten the other jerseys either.

IAM: At least Kluge got a stage win, though the bad news about the team folding casts a cloud over the race for them.

Tinkoff: I like Majka because he's shown a lot of promise, but he is a very conservative GC rider. I fear that he is in for a career of several good results, but few wins. His one-on-one battles with Purito for the polka dots a couple of years ago were excellent, so I wish he'd show the same bravery when going for the GC.