This week’s Tweets … oh Lord. You just have to wonder sometimes, don’t you? We wrap up the toxic Keisse case and then we go straight into a lot of cyclists who actually were lovely to their fans this week. Plus some Mallorcan challenges and a gruppetto of old and new …
Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE) delivered what he has been threatening all season, his first WorldTour victory, at a Grand Tour to boot, and showing a clean pair of heels to John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo). The uphill finish produced some splits in the peloton allowing Tom Dumoulin to snatch the overall lead by just one second.
At the end of a Giro d’Italia which has revelled in its daily unpredictability, it was fitting that the concluding sprinters’ stage instead came down to a straight mano a mano between two of the peloton’s unsung powerhouses. Iljo Keisse finally delivered something for his Etixx-Quick Step team to celebrate at the end of a lacklustre three weeks, edging out Luke Durbridge who narrowly failed to provide a victory that would have neatly bookended a successful race for Orica-GreenEDGE, the dominant squad in the opening stages.
Alberto Contador finished safely to confirm his seventh grand tour victory. He joins Bernard Hinault as the only rider to have won all three grand tours at least twice.