Dumoulin had initially been dropped after an earlier attack by Nairo Quintana on the final climb of Santuario di Oropa, but in the end it was Quintana who lost time, coming in over 10 seconds down on Dumoulin.
The Dutch rider took the honours from Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha–Alpecin) and Mikel Landa (Team Sky).
The peloton kept the days breakaway within their reach throughout the day, bringing them back with perfect timing ahead of the days first categorised climb to the finish.
As the gradient increased, Tom Dumoulin remained safely tucked in towards the head of the bunch and when accelerations came from the front he remained focused on his own climb. The Dutch rider led the chase to Nairo Quintana and once the catch was made, he launched his own explosive attack. With just Zakarin left with him he still had the power to accelerate towards glory, taking his second stage win at this years Giro d’Italia. The victory adds precious seconds to his lead in the overall standings and he now holds an advantage of 2 minutes and 47 seconds.
“I really didn’t expect this, it’s something I had always dreamed about but I didn’t think I could do it”, said Dumoulin. “It was a really tough climb and when I couldn’t follow Quintana I remained focused, relaxed and rode at my own pace. At the end I still had something left it was incredible. It’s a good advantage to go into the last week with but we will see how things go and the last week will be much different. It’s still a long way to Milan.”
Incredible win! What a performance from @tom_dumoulin as Nairo Quintana cracks! #Giro100 pic.twitter.com/9UHWmTIVYJ
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) 20 mai 2017
Giro d’Italia 2017 – stage 14 results (Castellania – Oropa):
| 1 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | 3:02:03 |
| 2 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +03” |
| 3 | Mikel Landa (Team Sky) | +09” |
| 4 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +14” |
| 5 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | +35” |
| 6 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | +41” |
| 7 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | +43” |
| 8 | Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain Merida) | ,, |
| 9 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo_ | +46” |
| 10 | Tanel Kangert (Astana) | ,, |
| 11 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | +50” |
| 12 | Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | +01’00” |
| 13 | Sébastien Reichenbach (FDJ) | +01’12” |
| 14 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +01’14” |
| 15 | Igor Anton (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 16 | Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’19” |
| 17 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’22” |
| 18 | Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 19 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 20 | Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) | +01’26” |
General classification after stage 14:
| 1 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | 59:31:17 |
| 2 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +02’47” |
| 3 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | +03’25” |
| 4 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | +03’40” |
| 5 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +04’24” |
| 6 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +04’32” |
| 7 | Tanel Kangert (Astana) | +04’55” |
| 8 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | +04’59” |
| 9 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | +05’28” |
| 10 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | +05’36” |
| 11 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo) | +07’03” |
| 12 | Dario Cataldo (Astana) | +07’13” |
| 13 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | +07’43” |
| 14 | Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) | +07’55” |
| 15 | Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) | +07’58” |
| 16 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +09’11” |
| 17 | Ben Hermans (BMC) | +10’26” |
| 18 | Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal) | +11’07” |
| 19 | Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emirates) | +16’02” |
| 20 | Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | +19’05” |
