Giro d’Italia 2017 : Final KM stages 10-15

The third of our #Giro100 Final KM round-ups, we take on stages 10-15! There were a couple humdingers in this lot! Perfect for your commute …

Stage 10

With Nairo Quintana in the pink skinsuit – this time without his signature pink booties (why, why didn’t he wear them? They’re ace!) – it was really just a question of how much time Tom Dumoulin was going to take from the Colombian climber. Well, it was quite a lot – he made up the 24sec he was trailing Q plus another 2min 23secs to take pink for himself. This performance has absolutely put the top step into play – perhaps right down to the last seconds on the final stage’s TT.

Our review is here

Stage 11

So far, this is one of our favourite stages in this year’s Giro. It was a breakaway day and a stage for one of those amazing rides from a Team Dimension Data rider. Omar Fraile was out front from the get-go, got reeled back in near the end, fought his way back, dropped again, got the jump on the final descent to the finish and won the stage in a four-man sprint. Over the finish line, Fraile burst into tears with the realisation that he won his first GT stage. (But it won’t be his last!) No change in the GC.

Our review is here

Stage 12

One of the great things about the Giro (and the Vuelta) is that we get a glimpse of the future with up-and-coming young riders taking their chances for glory. And none more emphatically than Quick-Step’s Fernando Gaviria, who takes his third stage win in his first GT in Stage 12. The last newbie to do that was Peter Sagan in the 2011 Vuelta. No change in the GC.

Our review is here

Stage 13

One of those stages that didn’t feel like it was ever going to end. But what a firecracker of a finish! Fernando Gaviria came from waaaaay back, threaded the needle between Caleb Ewan and the barriers and stormed to his epic fourth Giro stage win. And this is just his first Grand Tour – Marcel Kittel must be happy that Gaviria is a teammate and not an adversary. Tom Dumoulin stays safe in pink.

Our review is here

Stage 14

This was the day that Nairo Quintana would start making some of that time-trial time back off the maglia rosa, Tom Dumoulin, right? Well, that might have been the script the pundits were working to, but Dumoulin hadn’t read it. It was a spine-tingling, bell-ringing, pink-powered stage of brilliance with an iconic finish on Oropa. The GC got a scrambling by the end of this!

Our review is here

Stage 15

The fastest stage in this year’s Giro, it was full gas from the get-go. The speed took its toll on the hairpin descents and I for one had to steel myself watching them take those corners! A section of pavé as a tiny bunch with the GC favourites and the maglia rosa hurtled to the finish in Bergamo gave them a good shaking before they went full tilt into a bunch sprint with no sprinters. Marvellous!