“I just had some problems. I needed to take a dump,” Dumoulin said. “I started to feel it in the downhill of the Stelvio and I had to stop. Back on the bike I decided to fight and draw conclusions after the finish. I’m still in the maglia rosa but I’m above all very disappointed.”
On the final categorized climb of the day, the early breakaway of Mikel Landa, Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), and Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) disintegrated. Landa rode on alone, but once Nibali attacked late in the climb, the gap was down to a matter of seconds. Nibali crested the mountain with Quintana, Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r La Mondiale), and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin).
Nibali’s notorious descending skills paid off as he bridged to Landa and scooped up a few seconds on Quintana, as well as the stage win.
“It’s the victory of a complete rider,” Nibali added. “I had to be consistent from start to finish in a long and difficult stage. At the end I had to be an aggressive climber, a good downhill rider and a sprinter.”
And it’s @vincenzonibali who wins Stage 16!
What a dramatic day of #Giro100 we’ve had today! pic.twitter.com/whGWOTNNDa
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) 23 mai 2017
Giro d’Italia 2017 – stage 16 results (Rovett – Bormio):
| 1 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | 6:24:22 |
| 2 | Mikel Landa (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 3 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +12” |
| 4 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | +24” |
| 5 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +32” |
| 6 | Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) | +01’26” |
| 7 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +01’35” |
| 8 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 9 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | ,, |
| 10 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | ,, |
| 11 | Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | ,, |
| 12 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 13 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +2’18” |
| 14 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +5’10” |
| 15 | Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal) | +5’17” |
| 16 | Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emirates) | +5’19” |
| 17 | Sébastien Reichenbach (FDJ) | +6’07” |
| 18 | Gregor Muhlberger (Bora-hansgrohe) | +6’41” |
| 19 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 20 | Dario Cataldo (Astana) | +7’30” |
General classification after stage 16:
| 1 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | 70:14:48 |
| 2 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +31” |
| 3 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | +01’12” |
| 4 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | +02’38” |
| 5 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +02’40” |
| 6 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | +03’05” |
| 7 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +03’49” |
| 8 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | +04’35” |
| 9 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo) | +06’20” |
| 10 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | +07’00” |
| 11 | Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) | +07’17” |
| 12 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | +11’29” |
| 13 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +12’13” |
| 14 | Dario Cataldo (Astana) | +13’26” |
| 15 | Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal) | +14’46” |
| 16 | Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | +19’02” |
| 17 | Sébastien Reichenbach (FDJ) | +25’20” |
| 18 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +26’50” |
| 19 | Hubert Dupont (AG2R) | +28’27” |
| 20 | Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emirates) | +29’07” |
