Stage 20

The road

At the start

Froome in pink, one mountain day left

The Finestre changed everything. Chris Froome rides out of Susa in the maglia rosa with 40 seconds on Tom Dumoulin, and Simon Yates, who led this Giro for thirteen days, has fallen out of the top eight altogether. Fabio Aru and six others climbed off yesterday. Today is the last mountain stage: 215 kilometres over the Tsecore and the Col Saint-Pantaléon to Cervinia.

How it was won

1. 168 km to go

   The break thins on the Tsecore

   Kreuziger and Nieve force the pace and shell riders from the break as Astana line up the peloton for one last GC battle.

2. 228 km to go

   Astana shed Pinot

   Astana's relentless tempo grinds away at the Col Saint-Pantaléon and, by the summit twenty-eight kilometres from Cervinia, Thibaut Pinot is gone — and with him the last obstacle between López and third overall.

3. 39 km to go

   Dumoulin throws everything at it

   Nine kilometres from Cervinia Dumoulin attacks; only a handful can follow, but Froome is glued to his wheel — punch and counter-punch, with neither able to shake the other.

4. 46 km to go

   Froome counters in the tunnel

   Dumoulin goes again, unsighted, in a tunnel; Froome counters out the other side and the Dutchman cannot respond, shaking his head as the maglia rosa rides away — the Giro all but sealed.

5. 5At the line

   Nieve wins, Froome crowned

   Mikel Nieve soloes to victory at Cervinia on his 34th birthday; behind, Froome crosses in the select group to clinch his first Giro d'Italia and a third consecutive Grand Tour.

The result