News: Tom Dumoulin Resists Attacks in Giro d’Italia

Despite attacks from his GC rivals, Tom Dumoulin’s fight for pink goes on in the Giro d’Italia (Stage 18)

News: Tom Dumoulin Resists Attacks in Giro d’Italia

A fast and furious start to the 18th stage saw a breakaway go clear before the race hit the first of the days five climbs. Four riders made the initial jump with several riders bridging across to join them.

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On the third categorised climb of the day the peloton had reduced to only the group of general classification favourites, with Pink Jersey Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) tucked safely inside the bunch.

As the favourites were in the midst of the ascent, an attack came from two of the favourites and the responsibility to chase them down fell on the shoulders of the Maglia Rosa.

Tom managed to close the gap, which had stretched out to 27 seconds, as the bunch crested the climb. The group of favourites stayed together until the final climb of the day where the fireworks were lit.

Numerous attacks came from the group with Tom also trying his luck, but each move was chased down with everyone keen to keep things together. As the breakaway vanquished, Tom lead the favourites across the line finishing 9th on the stage with no time losses.

After the stage Tom said: “I felt really good today and I’m really happy that I didn’t loose any time. When the attacks came I just kept my cool, rode my own climb things came back together. I also tried my luck on the approach to the finish but nothing stuck and in the end I rolled across the line with the other favourites. I’m glad to have survived another day and look forward to tomorrow.”

Team Sunweb coach Aike Visbeek added: “Today was a really hard day, especially after another tough day yesterday. The guys fought really hard to put Tom in a good position and keep him there. There was a lot of pressure from the other teams but Tom stayed cool and calm and the final went well. We can look back and be proud of how we dealt with what was a tough stage.”