Giro d'Italia leader Tom Dumoulin suffered a "terrible" Stage 16 but refused to blame his rivals for capitalising on an unscheduled toilet stop that badly hurt his overall victory hopes on Tuesday.
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No teams slowed when Dumoulin suffered his mishap, forcing the Dutchman to hurriedly throw his bike into the grass and rip off his cycling shorts in desperation as he suffered a bout of diarrhea:
"I'm disappointed with myself," Dumoulin said. "I lost two minutes not because I had bad legs, just because I had other problems. It was terrible. I had to stop because I couldn't hold it anymore. I had to fight and fight and fight, and take conclusions after the finish. That’s what I did. I'm very disappointed with today." (Learn how to ride like a pro—and avoid pro mistakes—in The Bicycling Complete Book of Road Cycling Skills!)
In other interviews, he was even more candid:
In contrast, on Sunday, Movistar leader Quintana had thanked Dumoulin for slowing the pace of the peloton when he crashed so he could catch up.
The Sunweb team rider started the "Queen" mountain stage of the 100th edition with a lead of 2min 41sec on Colombian climbing specialist and 2014 champion Nairo Quintana (Movistar), and with high hopes of becoming the first Dutchman to win the pink jersey. But by the end of the 222km ride from Rovetta to Bormio—won by Italy's Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain team)—Dumoulin's dream was shattered after seeing his lead over Quintana slashed to 31secs.
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In the end, he battled on the second ascension of the Stelvio to crest the snow-hit summit 2:06 behind Quintana and Nibali, and continued his valiant effort on the sinewy downhill to come over the line 2:17 in arrears after Nibali beat Spanish rival Mikel Landa (Sky) in a two-up sprint to end the hosts' long wait for a stage win on the 100th edition.
With another four mountain stages still to come, time-trial specialist Dumoulin was left despondent.
"I'm still in [the leader's jersey] but not with the lead I had hoped for," a dejected-looking Dumoulin said at the finish.
Winner Nibali, who suggested Dumoulin had "not been feeding right" or perhaps suffered a chill due to the "cold temperatures," had little sympathy for the Dutchman.
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"It wasn't a crash," said Nibali when asked if he and the peloton had thought to stop and wait. "No one has ever stopped and waited for me whenever I've ever had a problem, and I've had plenty in the past whether it's being sick, a crash or a flat tire. Maybe I'll be attacked for what I say but if you look at the history of cycling, there are plenty of incidents of riders attacking their rivals in such circumstances."
Now in third place overall at 1:12 behind Dumoulin, Nibali is back in with a fighting chance of winning his home race on its 100th edition.
But after the hosts waited 16 stages to celebrate a home win, he said: "Climbing the Mortirolo and the Stelvio—the highest peak on this year's race—twice? This is a great stage win for me.
"The only regret I have is not putting my hands up at the finish to celebtate. But I was too busy sprinting."
