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Steven Kruijswijk started Stage 19 in the Maglia Rosa, with a lead of three minutes over second-placed Esteban Chaves. All he had to do to was stay upright over the next two stages and he would be the first Dutch rider to win the Giro d’Italia.
Yet on the descent of the Colle dell’Agnello, Kruijswijk hit a snow bank, somersaulting over his handlebars, before finally getting up. He hen had problems with his machine, requiring a bike change.
He struggled to finish, coming in 4 minutes and 54 seconds behind stage winner Vincenzo Nibali.
With hours to go before the start of Stage 20 – Guillestre to Sant’Anna di Vinadio – Kruijswijk will not recover and retake the Maglia Rosa before the final stage into Torino.
The cuts and grazes hide the true state of his injuries, with x-rays revealing a fractured rib.
“My body hurts like hell and so it’s all over,” he told Cyclingnnews.
The team will make the decision in the morning (Italian time) if he will even start the stage tonight. Even if he does start, he will not have slept well and his injuries will hamper his ability to get over the three climbs, especially with Nibali and Alejandro Valverde attacking to take the pink jersey from Chaves’ back.
To win a three-week Grand Tour you need a strong team around you. Look how Nibali won yesterday’s stage to Risoul, with Michele Scarponi getting in the breakaway. This allowed the team to call him back to help Nibali. Orica-GreenEDGE did the same with Ruben Plaza to help Chaves.
Kruijswijk has a weaker team than Chaves, Nibali and Valverde. LottoNL-Jumbo rarely get riders in the breakaway on mountain stages. Their only hope is to get their strongest rider, Enrico Battaglin, in a breakaway on the first mountain climb, allowing him to be called back to assist Kruijswijk as he goes on the attack.
Kruijswijk also does not have a strong team to drive the peloton to pierce the armour, as Robbie McEwen explained last night, and soften up Chaves by making one hell of a momentous attack on Colle della Lombarda. Therefore, Kruijswijk is likely to be isolated on the first or second mountain climb, struggling with his injuries.
No one wants to lose a race, let alone a Grand Tour, because of a crash. But that is professional racing. To win a Grand Tour you have to not only climb mountains, but also descend them.
Unfortunately for Kruijswijk, the crash on the descent of the Colle dell’Agnello has lost him the race. As he said, it was a silly mistake.
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