Greig Leach

"What can he do?" must have been the question on every Italian cycling fans all along the time trial course. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), has ridden a brilliant race but has just come up a few seconds short. In fact he is only holding off Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) by just five seconds, five seconds that would leave the defending Giro champion off of the podium. Naturally, Nibali wasn't going to let that happen. As it turned out, despite the expressed statements of the eventual winner of the Giro, Tom Dumoulin, that both Nibali and Quintana would be off of the podium. Instead, it was Dumoulin on the top step, with Quintana holding his second place and Nibali defending his third place. At least the podium reception was cordial if not out right friendly.