The final battle of the Giro finishes on the toughest climb of the race : Monte Zoncolan. Everyone needs to give everything they have left here.

4 man breakaway attacked early. Unfortunately for them, due to the simple importance of the stage for the GC contenders, they would likely be doomed to irrelevancy.

All climbs of this stage featured very thin roads, so even very early on we kept the whole team near the front in case anything were to happen.

4 more outsiders joined the breakaway after the first climb of the day.

Staying near the front paid of, as over the top the pack stretched out and tons of riders were dropped inadvertently.

Katusha took up the front as the climb approached.

That's the irrelevance. Katusha was catching the break, and I was on Janier's wheel.

Rodriguez went right to the front on the tiny roads. But Janier was able to bridge up so I didn't lose the wheel. Riders cracked everywhere!

Until Purito attacked round a hairpin. Nibali went to the front.

And the charge completely destroyed the rest of the peloton. Pozzovivo had to accelerated to latch on. I followed with Uran. Janier finally couldn't hold on.

Purito got a big gap. Unfortunately Pozzovivo and Uran cracked, leaving a gap between me and the Nibali/Valverde pair. Not a good sign. I had to not over extend myself.

The crowds were lining the sides of the roads as Nibali attacked Valverde with a viscous turn of pace! But I was almost on with 3 km to go.

Piti responded but couldn't handle Nibali anymore, and I caught him going into 1 of 3 tunnels on course! I didn't have a lot left, but I had paced myself. I only needed a few seconds to pass him on GC!

Purito shot out of the tunnel and under the 1 km to go banner, and the next one out was me. I had paced myself perfectly! I had nearly nothing left but I was so close to cracking both of the stronger riders!

One last sprint. Valverde had recovered a little, but I gained second by second!

A violent final dig. My legs were throbbing, my I just used my rapid pulse as I guide to pedal faster. I was almost at Rodriguez going up to the line.

And Joaquin Rodriguez wins the final mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia on top of Monte Zoncolan! What a way to assert his dominance of this GT!

I brought my points jersey through the line 11 seconds after. Amazing ride in my opinion. But the first thing I did was turn back, I needed to see the clock.

Valverde and Nibali came across together... at 33 seconds. Including the time bonuses, I did it! I passed Valverde for 3rd place!

Pozzovivo grabbed 5th ahead of Uran. Pozzo hasn't had a sparkling race as Betancur was the team leader for most of it, but he comes up big here. Bringing Peraud, Betancur and Pozzovivo turned out to be a bad idea for AG2R, as they only get 8th, 9th and 10th for it in the end.

Next was a Contador, another disappointment finishing at 1'41''. Looks like 6th place in GC. Rolland finished after.

And the most important member of Garmin-Sharp finished 9th: Janier Acevedo. Without him my Giro would have been a complete failure.

10th-19th places finished very close together, forming what could maybe be know as a peloton, if everyone wasn't a few second apart.

I am now 8 seconds ahead of Valverde for 3rd! 2nd-4th are easily in the same minute, while nobody else is within 10: Uran in 4th is over 16 minutes back. Crazy race!

And finally, I lost some points to Purito today, but I am still 2nd in points, 14 back. If I ride aggressively tomorrow, I'd have to do the math, but maybe it's possible.

So that's it. Everything hurts. It's 8:30 Pm and I am going to rest up already. See you guys tomorrow for the finale!

The final stage is mostly flat, but it has enough sprint points for me to possibly take the red jersey.

And in order to accomplish this goal the team was on the front. It wouldn't be possible if a breakaway escaped and took up the points.

We succeeded, and I jumped for the sprint point and the 6 points it brought. I needed 14 to make the difference.

But I'm obviously not the fastest sprinter in the peloton, and even though Peter Sagan was mathematically eliminated form the competition, he still popped past me to take the top spot away from me. I took 4. What a dick to play spoiler like that.

I wasn't taking that chance at the 2nd sprint. I had Steele lead me out so I had a huge gap at the start of the sprint.

This time I went uncontested. 6 more in the bag.

I still needed to finish ahead of Rodriguez in order to take it, so as the sprinter's teams took to the front I positioned myself right behind them.

Giant, Cannondale, FDJ, and me near the front.

The last few kms covered a few times around a short and somewhat hilly circuit. I was in prime position as we came off of it.

2 km to go! Degenkolb had the perfect leadout at the front. FDJ was still trying to make their way back up. I sat on the wheels.

1 km to go and all the sprinters opened up! I had a substantial lead of Rodriguez! Time to drain every last bit of this GT I had left!

Meanwhile after receiving brilliant leadout, it was an easy win for John Degenkolb, who was prepared to take the reigns early on when Kittel crashed out.

Before I could register it the pink jersey flew past me. I couldn't give a 2nd kick. My legs were dead. How did he have that much speed.

He finished 6th, I finished 9th, therefore assuring that he would not surrender the red points jersey to me. Very disappointing.

A handy win for Degenkolb. Sagan and Demare round out the podium.

Now the GC. Good news: I made the podium! I even came within 10 seconds of Nibali. At least I showed that I can keep recovery in the 3rd week of a GT when I don't fall ill.

In the end I lost the jersey by 5 points. Wow.

Purito does the sweep. That the KOM as well. Shame for Pirazzi that he put work into it, but lost it because the breaks were swept up on the biggest climbs.

Betancur faded in the last week, but he is still rewarded with the white jersey. Only Ulissi was ever close.

Astana get 2nd place and the team GC. They wanted the overall win but I'd say this was satisfactory for them.

So that ends our 2014 Giro d'Italia. From the start in Ireland we had our ups and downs. I got a few stages, just missed a jersey, and made my first ever GT podium! I think that is a major success for my career and the team! Thanks for the support. I have some time off now before Dauphine, where I'll probably ride in support of Andrew Talansky.

After a layoff from the Giro, it's time to get back to racing with Dauphine!

The route includes 2 TTs, a prologue and a longer one mid way through the race. There are no flats da, although 2 or 3 will likely end in a reduced sprint. There are 3 very high mountain days, and not much in between those two categories.

Since I am out of form and tired following the Giro, along with the fact that the parcours don't really suit me, our leader in this race will be Andrew Talansky. In addition we have climbers in Cardoso, Dennis and Slagter to help out, as well as some good all around domestiques.

Not a huge start list, but some big guns are here.

*** Froome, Rodriguez
** Mollema, Van Garderen, Peraud, Talansky
* Pinot, Roche, Rolland, L.L. Sanchez, Spilak, Sorensen

8 km prologue, might be good for Talansky.

Unfortunately Talansky was forced by his number to be the first off. We hadn't done reconnaissance so it wasn't the best. He tied for the lead when he finished, but would eventually slip to 19th, 12 seconds back.

Luckily we had another trick up our sleeve, Rohan Dennis. He found a way to get more out of the bike with help from the teammates before him, and took the lead!

The first GC contender to place very high was Tejay Van Garderen, who finished 6th.

Next it was me. I tried my best, and it wasn't my worst prologue ever. 55th, 22 seconds down.

Time tog et serious now. Chris Froome storms away. He finishes 4th, 4 seconds back from Dennis. He's 1st of the GC guys but not taking the stage!

Purito was the last to start, fresh off his Giro win, and of course he wasn't in stage contention. He finished 28th, 16 seconds down. That means Rohan takes the stage, along with all the other classifications!