The Dutchman would have expected attacks aplenty on Tuesday's Stage 16, and they did indeed come thick and fast. Kruijswijk stayed near the front of the elite group all day, chasing down attacks from Ilnur Zakarin, Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde before they had chance to even think they were getting clear.
Perhaps it was a joint effort to weaken the maglia rosa, and perhaps chip away at his advantage on the final climb, but when Valverde and Zakarin attacked together on the final climb it was Kruijswijk who went with them, leaving Chaves and Nibali decidedly gapped.
Not looking like taking anything but bonus seconds out of the leader, Valverde pushed on to at least take some time back on Chaves and Nibali, charging up to the finish, at a pace too fast for Zakarin, but with Kruijswijk on his tail. Valverde won the stage, his first ever in the Giro, in a sprint from Kruijswijk, 42 seconds ahead of Chaves and 1:47 ahead of Nibali.
Nibali's poor performance came under intense scrutiny by the Italian press, with many suggesting he should withdraw, a typically kneejerk reaction from the Italians. For his part, Nibali merely held his hands up and admitted it was a bad day on the bike, and underwent tests on Thursday which revealed no underlying physical reasons for his time loss.
With his lead now at exactly 3 minutes over Chaves, Kruijswijk was able to relax in Stage 17, a flat stage which looked all set to be one for the sprinters, but, after a large break was caught close to the line, another attack formed, from which Roger Kluge took a bittersweet win for IAM Cycling, the day after the announcement that the team would fold at the end of the season.
Stage 18 was another push for the GC standings, as Kruijswijk was again well protected by his team, and a match for any attacks that came on what was an unthreatening stage on paper. His lead in the GC standings remained untouched as he rolled in with his challengers, some 13 minutes down on the stage winner, Matteo Trentin.
giroditalia.it
Trentin's win was Etixx-QuickStep's fourth of a very strong Giro for them, but all the focus was on the underdog Kruijswijk, and whether he could cling on to his 3:00 lead over the next two days. Wouldn't it be a brilliant story if he could...?
General Classification
1. Steven Kruijswijk (TLJ) 73:50:37
2. Esteban Chaves (OGE) + 3:00
3. Alejandro Valverde (MOV) + 3:23
4. Vincenzo Nibali (AST) + 4:43
5. Ilnur Zakarin (KAT) + 4:50
6. Rafal Majka (SKY) + 5:34
7. Bob Jungels (EQS) + 7:57
8. Andrey Amador (MOV) + 8:53
9. Domenico Pozzovivo (ALM) + 10:05
10. Kanstantsin Siutsou (DDD) + 11:15
Sprint Classification
1. Giacomo Nizzolo (TFS) 185
2. Matteo Trentin (EQS) 141
3. Diego Ulissi (LAM) 137
King of the Mountains
1. Damiano Cunego (NIP) 134
2. Stefan Denifl (IAM) 72
3. Darwin Atapuma (BMC) 69
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