Sunday 29 May 2016 17:55, UK
Vincenzo Nibali completed overall victory of the 2016 Giro d’Italia by safely negotiating a rain-affected 21st stage into Turin won by Nikias Arndt.
The final day was marred by several crashes following a lunchtime downpour, but Nibali (Astana) avoided trouble to seal a second Giro title by 52 seconds from runner-up Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) and 1min 17sec from third-placed Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
Chaves was involved in two of the crashes and although he was unhurt, the second of them prompted race organisers to stop timing the riders with 30km to go and leave just stage victory to be decided.
Nibali was therefore free to roll over the line more than a minute down on Arndt safe in the knowledge that one of the most remarkable grand tour comebacks of recent times was already complete.
The 31-year-old Italian had been 4min 43sec adrift of the pink jersey with three stages remaining and was so badly out of form his team even ran tests to see if he was suffering from a virus.
But he subsequently mounted a sensational recovery, pulling himself to within 44 seconds of the lead by winning stage 19 and then moving to the top of the general classification by out-climbing all of his rivals for the second successive day on stage 20.
Nibali said: "It's a beautiful emotion. Today I win my second Giro d'Italia. I'm speechless. The crowd on the final circuit was enormous and showed me great affection. My family is here so I've been able to hug everyone. My joy is complete. I've loved that moment."
Chaves, meanwhile, was uninjured by the crashes and completed the stage a further minute behind Nibali to secure the first grand tour top-three finish of his career. Valverde also crossed the line safely to claim his eighth grand tour podium.
The 163km final stage started in Cuneo and ended with eight laps of a 7.5km circuit in Turin.
German rider Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) initially finished second behind Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo), but he was later promoted to first after the Italian was relegated for an irregular sprint. Matteo Trentin (Etixx - Quick-Step) and Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) were promoted to second and third respectively.
Arndt said: "This is not the way I would have wanted to win a stage at the Giro. But the jury has made its decision and there's nothing we, as riders, can do about it. I'm happy that I have a Giro stage win under my belt."
Stage 21 result
1 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Giant-Alpecin, 3:48:18
2 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, st
3 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
4 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Katusha, st
5 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal, st
6 Ivan Savitskiy (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo, st
7 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing, st
8 Eduard Grosu (Rom) Nippo-Vini Fantini, st
9 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff, st
10 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale, st
Final general classification
1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, 86:32:49
2 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, +52sec
3 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +1:17
4 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +1:50
5 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff, +4:37
6 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx - Quick-Step, +8:31
7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale, +11:47
8 Andrey Amador (Cos) Movistar, +13:21
9 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing, +14:09
10 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Dimension Data, +16:20
