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Colombian rider Esteban Chaves of Australian team Orica-GreenEDGE has taken the overall lead in the Giro d’Italia after Steven Kruijswijk crashed into a snowbank on a dangerous descent on the 19th stage on Friday.
Vincenzo Nibali won his first stage of this year’s race and moved up from fourth to second overall, only 44 seconds behind Chaves, with one more challenging leg to go before the 99th edition of the race ends in Turin on Sunday.
“I won with rage today. It hasn’t been easy to handle everything that has happened over the past few days,” said Nibali, the pre-race favourite who struggled over the past week.
Having begun the stage with a three-minute lead, Kruijswijk dropped to third overall, 1:05 behind Chaves.
“I’m happy to have the Maglia Rosa (pink jersey) and be so close to winning the Giro but there’s another hard stage tomorrow,” Chaves said.
“I’m sorry for Steven Kruijswijk. He made a small mistake in the downhill but he defended himself very courageously.”
Shortly after coming over the foggy Colle dell’Agnello pass, the highest point of the race at an altitude of 2744 metres, Kruijswijk lost control on a turn and collided with a wall of snow. The Dutchman flipped forward in the air and landed hard on his back and left arm, causing some painful scrapes and dirtying his pink jersey.
After putting his hand to his head to check that his helmet was still intact, Kruijswijk went to recover his bike, which needed mechanical assistance from a neutral race official’s car. Then he had to stop again, once his Team Lotto NL-Jumbo car had finally caught up to give him a spare bike to use.
Ilnur Zakarin, the Russian with Katusha who was fifth overall, had a more serious fall on the descent and had to abandon the race with a reported broken left collarbone.
Nibali clocked nearly 4 hours, 20 minutes over the 162km leg from Pinerolo to Risoul, France.
Mikel Landa, a Spaniard with Sky, finished second, 51 seconds behind, and Chaves was next, 53 seconds back.
Nibali attacked Chaves and dropped the Colombian on the final climb to Risoul, which could give the Italian the impetus to do the same thing on Saturday.
The 20th stage is a 134km leg from Guillestre, France, to Sant’Anna di Vinadio that features three first-category climbs and finishes uphill with a third-category ascent.
“I tried to stay with Nibali but he was too strong for me today,” Chaves said.
An aching Kruijswijk crossed nearly five minutes after Nibali.
Alejandro Valverde also struggled, and dropped from third to fourth overall, 1:48 back.
The 26-year-old Chaves is a pure climber who won the race’s “queen” stage, the 14th leg across the Dolomites. He’s attempting to become the second Colombian to win the Giro after Nairo Quintana in 2014.
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