Video: Team Sky Giro in tatters as Thomas hits deck, Quintana pulls trigger

Team Sky Giro in tatters as Thomas hits deck, Quintana pulls trigger

Nairo Quintana pulls the trigger on Blockhaus after Geraint Thomas was left bloodied by a crash. His GC hopes are over.

 

By Brian Canty

Team Sky’s ambitions of winning the Giro d’Italia are over after their two main GC riders, Mikel Landa and Geraint Thomas, were caught up in a bad crash with 15 kilometres of today’s stage remaining.

The pair were just two of several riders caught up in an incident with a motorbike which was inexplicably parked on the left side of the road.

Dutch rider Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) clipped the bike as the racing was really on and he lost his balance.

He fell to his right and took down half a dozen riders including Thomas and Landa as well as Vasil Kiriyenka.

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Adam Yates, the Orica-Scott climber, was also held up in the crash, and was frantically chasing back on as the leaders surged up the climb.

Thomas, who started the day in second was on the floor grimacing in pain and admitted after that his shoulder “popped out”, though he did manage to remount, get a spare bike and ride to the finish.

Assisting him all the way up to the summit finish of the Blockhaus was his teammate Philip Deignan who did some massive pulls in an effort to limit the time lost to stage winner and new race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar).

Alas, it was never going to be enough to save his Giro and the Welshman crossed the line 5:08 down and is now 17th on GC at 5:14.

Landa lost far more time and he is now 44th over 27 minutes down after losing a similar amount of time today.

“It's ridiculous. That shouldn't happen,” blasted Thomas after.

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“We were all racing to the bottom of the climb and next thing I know someone hits a moto and we go down.

“My shoulder popped out as well. I felt good but then I crashed and that was it – race over.

“I don't know (where we go from here).

“It's too early to think about that at the moment. Just let it settle down. I'm a bit angry at the minute. We need to sit down and work out what we're going to do,” he added.

Thibaut Pinot was second across the line, 24 seconds behind Quintana and he jumps up to second overall at 28 seconds.

He crossed the line just ahead of Dutchman Tom Dumoulin who was in the same time.

Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) was the only other rider inside a minute of Quintana, with 41 seconds separating him from the Colmbian.

Ireland’s Sam Bennett was just short of 28 minutes down on Quintana and he is now 184th on General Classification, 1:39:20 down.

He and the rest of the riders will be glad of the rest day tomorrow before hostilities recommence on Tuesday with a 39.8-kilometre time-trial from Foligno to Montefalco.

 

 

 

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