Saturday 28 May 2016 11:47, UK
Steven Kruijswijk admitted his hopes of winning the Giro d'Italia are over after a crash led to him losing the overall lead on an eventful 19th stage in the Alps.
Kruijswijk started the day with a three-minute advantage at the top of the general classification but ran off the road and into a bank of snow on a descent with about 54km to go.
Although he was able to continue, he crossed the finish line 4min 1sec down on Esteban Chaves and has now dropped to 1min 5sec behind the Colombian in third in the standings.
Kruijswijk was also leapfrogged by Vincenzo Nibali, who won stage 19 and is now 44 seconds off the pink jersey in second place.
Kruijswijk, who was later found to have fractured a rib in the fall, said: "I made a stupid mistake. I made a wrong move and crashed in that wall of snow. My bike was battered, and I wasn't able to continue immediately.
"After I started riding, everything hurt. I felt pain in my back and my ribs, and my morale was broken. I knew that I had lost time and tried to move on, but it was over. I lost my Giro today."
Chaves now only needs to defend his lead on a mountainous 20th stage and then avoid crashing on a flat and largely processional final stage into Turin on Sunday to seal a first grand tour victory.
The Colombian said: "It's been difficult. I'm happy to have the maglia rosa and be so close to winning the Giro, but there's another hard stage tomorrow.
"I'm sorry for Steven Kruijswijk. He made a small mistake in the downhill, but he defended himself very courageously. I've tried to stay with Nibali, but he was too strong for me today."
Nibali, meanwhile, revived his hopes of a second Giro title by overcoming his poor form earlier in the race with an outstanding performance on stage 19.
The Italian said: "I've won by rage today. It hasn't been easy to handle everything that has happened over the past few days.
"I'm very happy. It's been a terribly hard stage. I want to keep my feet on the ground. There is another hard stage to contest tomorrow".
