Ladies and gentlemen, one last time it's: Buongiorno al Giro d'Italia 2020! Three weeks including stages of almost all kinds are coming to an end today - after more than 3,000 kilometers in the saddle, one HC climb, 9 category 1 and 2 climbs each, 12 category 3 hills and 7 category 4 bumps.
But none of these await the riders today, as we've got a pan-flat stage on the menu. We have come to Torino for the start of this closing stage. The city itself has about 870,000 inhabitants, and about 2.2 million live in the whole metropolitan area. Torino is an important industrial center, with Fiat automobiles probably the best known local brand. Yet, it is Italy's community with the highest debt per persion ratio... Nonetheless, it's always worth a trip - be it to watch famous football club Juventus FC playing, or rather to visit important historical sites like the Porta Palatina, the Palazzo Reale or the Duomo di Torino. What you don't find here, though - and won't see all day long - is a beach, with the sea being pretty far away...
Even though the stage leads us in opposite direction of the classic Milano - Torino, today's course doesn't have much in common with that race. The hills are avoided, and we will head pretty straigt to Milano, via Vercelli and Novara.
The intermediate sprint, after 135.7 kilometers, will then take place already in Milano, right before entering the 8.6km lap which will be done five times. We'll then head onto the final 6.2 kilometers of wide, almost straight roads. And ultimately, we will know the final stage winner of the 2020 Giro d'Italia!
Milano, as you surely all know, is Italy's most populated metropolitan area, housing 7.4 million people. It's Italy's main place for culture, media and fashion, and has further strengths in the fields of commerce, education, finance and healthcare... and what not? And yes, of course, tourism. It's impossible to enumerate all the sights that you should see here, but the Gothic cathedral - the world's largest of this kind - the Torre del Filarete or the Arch of the Peace are surely among the main targets.
However, the riders will target something else - their holidays! Everyone will be happy when it's all over - but some will be even happier, because they achieved something big! We already had 18 different stage winners so far (plus one team, on the first stage), van der Poel being the only rider with two wins. And who will take the final stage?
Of course, the bookies go all-in on the sprinters - who have already missed out on two of the five flat stages so far. Will they at least get the win in Milano? If they do, Kennaugh, Demare and Eislers should have the best chances - all of them having already claimed at least two podium spots. Van Poppel, Appollonio and Hsu should be in the mix as well, whereas we're still waiting for a top result of Afewerki, who still makes it to the one-star favorites list again. Listed along with him are Nizzolo, Meyer and Goss.
And while Festina - OAKA should at least have a reasonable chance for a podium finish in a mass sprint, the only other team without a stage podium so far, Team UBS, would need to find another way of succeeding. Maybe a breakaway? So far, 13 out of 18 stages (not counting the time trials, of course) went to attackers - why not today?
The final stage is on! We see all of the special jersey wearers lined up at the front one last time. It's unlikely that any of them will change shoulders tonight, so those who currently wear them will likely do so on the podium tonight as well. They are:
Maglia Rosa
Rein Taaramäe
Maglia Azzurra
Richard Antonio Carapaz
Maglia Ciclamino
Arnaud Demare
Maglia Bianca
Kamil Malecki
And one last time, we're looking for our Breakaway of the Day! Kruijswijk, Rosskopf and Nych are trying to be part of it first. All of them already have at least one podium finish so far!
Daniel and Mullen are next, trying to catch up with the leading trio.
The hills didn't really work out for McCarthy, so he tries on the flat. He's accompanied by Greek champion Kastrantas - so Festina aren't going all-in on the sprint to get their first podium spot, it seems.
Wheter there are too many or just the wrong riders up front, we don't know. But we do know that Kanter and Madouas are chasing pretty vigorously!
Holmes and Danacik try to break free, too - but Madouas simply hangs on, and so the only thing they achieve is to bring back the peloton to McCarthy and Kastrantas. Strange team tactics by by cycleYorkshire...
Little later, eBuddy take control in the peloton, which soon sets an end to Mullen's and Daniel's attempt, too. Remaining up front are still Kruijswijk, Rosskopf and Nych, but they just have built up a one-minute lead so far.
But both in the breakaway and in the pack, riders soon start to tire due to the really high pace! Conti still seems to have the energy to chase, while Hofstede is struggling much more.
Even though the peloton is still chasing, this trio is able to extend the lead second by second, as it's 1'36" after 50 kilometers.
And to be honest, this isn't surprising, as Kruijswijk and Nych both are very strong riders on the flat, with Rosskopf being able to set a decent pace, too. None of them can really sprint, so if they make it to the line, it might come down to pure flat speed and acceleration - which would again mean that the US-American doesn't have the best cards.
But let's see if they're finally allowed to go a bit further away than just ninety seconds!
It's absolutely no surprise that we finally see an eBuddy rider on the attack - and it's Vermeltfoort who's going for it! With him is Barthe, trying to create a numerical advantage for his team.
Finally, the pace significantly drops in the peloton. A mix of sprinter and GC rider teams are setting the pace now, with Edet, Rybalkin, Aranburu, Madouas and Kanter taking turns.
Their deficit is therefore currently growing, now being about two minutes.
When the two late attackers join the leading trio, the gap has grown to almost three minutes - so now we can definitely speak of the Breakaway of the Day. We've already presented the three early attackers, so let's focus on the two newcomers.
Vermeltfoort is another strong rider for the flat, perfectly suited to chase down breakaways - if he isn't a part of them himself, obviously. He isn't a stronger sprinter than the others, but his acceleration could well make a difference.
Barthe, on the other hand, is not the strongest on the flat - but now the fastest sprinter of the group. While he already has a stage podium, too, Vermeltfoort is the only breakaway member who hasn't achieved this yet.
By the way, as soon as Barthe had arrived, Nych stopped working - probably trying to pull off another attack like on stage 6, where he upset the sprinters on a flat finale!
100 kilometers to go in the 2020 Giro d'Italia! Kruijswijk is leading the group, whose lead peaked around 3'30" and now is down to three minutes again. Edet, Kanter and Madouas are setting the pace in the pack.
25 kilometers later, the sprinter teams start sending more riders up front. Girdlestone and Clarke have already joined the chase, while Niu and Aregger would do the same soon after. The gap has only gone down by ten more seconds, though.
50 kilometers to go - which means that the breakaway arrives at the intermediate sprint! And although Nych could have moved up to 6th in the virtual points standings, he stays at the end of the group, getting just one single point.
They are already in Milano now, and will soon enter the circuit to be done five (and a half) times. The lead is now down to 2'18", with more and more riders taking turns in the peloton.
Rosskopf is scratching his head, maybe wondering whether to go ahead or to turn left. They finally get it right and ride towards the 5km mark - which unfortunately for them doesn't mean anything right now. They're entering the circuit now, and this place will be one of the last major turns of the race with a bit more than 6km to go.
Apparently, Kennaugh, Demare and Afewerki feel really strong today, as several teammates are working for them as they reach the intermediate sprint now. The pack's deficit has only been cut by two more seconds so far - but with 50 kilomters to go, they should have enough time to catch those escapees!
Let's hope everybody counts the number of laps correctly - or else we'll either have someone arriving at the finish line too soon, or doing an extra lap. The breakaway would surely prefer the race to end now, as that would be a sure win for one of them - but it's still a long way to go, 45.2km to be precise.
The first lap is done, and it really doesn't look too much like a breakaway win anymore! The peloton has reduced the gap to 1'25", while we have exactly 30 kilometers to cover in this 2020 Giro d'Italia!
It's the end of the third lap for the leaders, still holding onto their lead of one minute! But can that be enough with 23.3km to go?
Nych is now working as well, as Barthe seems to be done - or did they decide the Frenchman should have the better cards being a faster sprinter?
Meanwhile, the pack is moving really fast - meaning that there might be a risk of splits! Fortunately for those who aren't positioned well enough yet, there's no wind today once again, else that could be really threatening!
We can see pretty much all the sprinters bar Demare - who's up front - right here: Kennaugh, Hsu, Eislers, Afewerki, Contreras, Cullaigh, Goss, Meyer, Zhao, Nizzolo, Appollonio, Granjel Cabrera - have we missed someone?
By the way, some pretty well positioned GC riders are even further back - Brenes, Bongiorno and Schleck, with Reis and Anacona being even at the very end of the peloton!
Up front, Rosskopf attacks with exactly 20 kilometers to go, knowing that going solo should be pretty much his only chance to beat his companions!
Barthe is dropped instantly, while the others try to catch the US-American.
It doesn't take long for the peloton, led by Kneisky, to reel in Barthe. They're only 56" behind the breakaway now - but those four who remain up front are fighting really bravely!
Up front, Rosskopf has been caught again by the end of the fourth lap. EA Vesuvio have now completely vanished from the chase; instead, Team Puma - SAP are going full speed with Sagiv and Cavagna!
38" are left of the breakaway's advantage - does anyone have enough left to hold onto that small lead?
Nych indeed wants to repeat his solo win from stage 6, attacking with 12.8km to go! Rosskopf can't keep up anymore, while Vermeltfoort and Kruijswijk are trying to collaborate to bring the Russian back!
But in the peloton, we now have a big split at this same point! Only 30 riders are up front - with this being the left-behinds! Besides some sprinters - notably Van Poppel, Afewerki, Goss and Granjel Cabrera - we also have a lot of GC riders having missed out on the split: Spilak, Kirsch, Chiarello, Amador, Nesset, Shikai, Faglum Karlsson, Talansky, Kennaugh, Bernal, Bongiorno, Valls, Brenes, Schleck, Carapaz - that's 3/4 of the Top 20 riders! Meaning that up front we just have the Top 5 - so even if this split should persist, it wouldn't have a major impact on the top of the GC.
Kruijswijk and Vermeltfoort have indeed caught up with Nych, while Rosskopf is still fighting to do the same!
The pack is still 38" down with 10.8km to go! The split has closed in the meantime, by the way.
But Rosskopf has to give up and is soon swallowed by the peloton. Bystrom is currently leading - a glimpse at the front of the pack clearly shows us who are today's two top-favorites!
The escapees complete the fifth - and final - lap still ahead of the pack, but only by 16 seconds! Unfortunately for them, there are still 6.2km to go, so that's a close to impossible mission!
Five kilometers until we're done with the 2020 Giro d'Italia! Vermeltfoort and Nych are still trying, while Kruijswijk, at the left border of the road, had to let go. 12 seconds remain!
We currently still have quite some GC riders close to the front of the peloton - with the entire Top 10 bar Barguil in the first 30 positions - nobody wants to lose any time by stupid bad positioning on the last day!
But the sprinters are already getting into position; Demare and Kennaugh come first, but most are lined up behind Appollonio: we see Contreras, Hsu, Eislers, Meyer, Afewerki, Granjel Cabrera, Goss and Zhao. Van Poppel isn't around yet, and Cullaigh is right behind Chiarello, not joining the long train.
Just 500 meters later, Vermeltfoort and Nych are caught as well - meaning that the peloton will take the stage for only the 6th time in three weeks! Cavagna is leading the bunch onto the final 4.5 kilometers.
3km to the line, and while the Air France train looks already pretty good with Bystrom - Paez - Kennaugh, Team Puma have somehow messed up a bit, with Niu being at the roadside and only Aregger remaining ahead of Demare!
Most sprinters have therefore decided to follow the blue train, with Appollonio glued to Kennaugh, followed by Nizzolo, Contreras, Hsu and Cullaigh. Eislers, Meyer, Granjel Cabrera, Afewerki, Goss and Zhao seem to be somewhat stuck behind Malori, while Taaramäe, led out by Vangstad, apparently wants to participate in the sprint once more!
Oh, and Van Poppel was seemingly hoping for his teammate Vermeltfoort to take the stage, as he's still not well positioned at all!
Within just one kilometer, the picture can completely change! The two trains have actually crossed - and now it's Team Puma who again have lined up nicely, with Niu being back up front! On the other hand, Bystrom is done, leaving Kennaugh with just Paez - that's really early with 2,000m left!
So the other sprinters now have to choose what to do! Appollonio and the whole queue behind him seem to change their minds and switch to Demare, while Nizzolo continues to follow Kennaugh.
What a leadout by Aregger! Under the Fiamma Rossa - marking the final kilometer of the 2020 Giro d'Italia - the Swiss has opened a gap to Appollonio, who doesn't seem to be able to follow Demare anymore!
And it's pretty much the contrary for Air France, as Paez has already dropped behind Kennaugh, leaving his sprinter all alone already now!
Let's take a look at the current positions to get a better overview:
Aregger
Demare
Appollonio
Kennaugh
Contreras
Hsu
Paez
Cullaigh
Nizzolo
Eislers
Afewerki
Meyer
Granjel Cabrera
Goss
Zhao
Taaramäe
Van Poppel
With 700m left, Demare decides it's time to leave his leadout's slipstream - having already a huge advantage on Appollonio thanks to Aregger's tremendous work!
Contreras currently is in 4th position, while Hsu and Kennaugh are neck-and-neck for 5th and 6th.
Behind the Taiwanese, we have Eislers and Afewerki, who are overtaking Cullaigh, while Meyer, Nizzolo, Granjel Cabrera, Goss and Zhao are trying to close in.
Only 500 meters to the line for Demare, who still holds onto his huge margin - or even further extends it!
Let's look at the positions once again:
Demare
Aregger
Contreras
Appollonio
Kennaugh
Hsu
Eislers
Afewerki
Cullaigh
Meyer
Nizzolo
Granjel Cabrera
Goss
Zhao
Taaramäe
Van Poppel
Just 300m to go, and while Demare probably won't give this one away and take his second stage win, we have a really close fight for 2nd! Hsu, Appollonio, Contreras and Kennaugh are neck-and-neck - with Eislers and Afewerki bringing some great speed onto the closing meters, too!
Cullaigh is trying to catch the Eritrean's wheel, while Meyer leads out Nizzolo and Zhao in the middle of the road! Goss is in the wind, and Granjel Cabrera attempts to latch onto the train ahead of him. Van Poppel has at least passed Taaramäe now, but is struggling to get closer to those up front.
We're on the final 200 meters of this Giro d'Italia - with Demare now starting to slightly fade! But he should still easily have this one in the bag!
Behind, we only have a three-way fight for 2nd now, Appollonio having cracked and now blocking the way for Afewerki! Eislers is still in Hsu's slipstream, holding back the final push for the very last meters!
Demare is out of reach for these four, who are still fighting for a stage podium! Kennaugh and Hsu now have a slight edge over Contreras, but it's far from decisive - and Eislers is only launching now!
Appollonio really has nothing left, having dropped behind Cullaigh already - and Meyer is about to pass him, too. But he has indeed blocked Afewerki, who should now take the free space to the Italian's right!
Granjel Cabrera, Nizzolo and Goss are only fighting for a low Top 10 it seems, with Zhao and especially Van Poppel even further back!
Taaramäe finally doesn't really have a chance of keeping up with these sprinters - which isn't a big surprise when you're about 20 stat points weaker...
But the clear winner of today's closing stage is Arnaud Demare! He was perfectly led out by Aregger on the final kilometer, allowing him to launch with 700m to go having already a good margin on the rest. He simply pulled through, confirming that he's the most consistent sprinter - and now the most successful rider of this Giro d'Italia in terms of stage results! Congratulations on his 14th GT stage win!
It's still incredibly close for 2nd with just 50 meters to go! Kennaugh seems to be inches ahead of Hsu, but Contreras definitely hasn't thrown in the towel yet! Eislers's acceleration might come just a bit too late, though, while Cullaigh will very probably take 6th.
Indeed, Peter Kennaugh takes his second 2nd place of the race, the third podium overall. Hsuan Ping Hsu will surely be happy about taking 3rd, starting and ending the race on the stage podium!
Emiliano Contreras won stage 10, but narrowly misses out on another podium spot today, taking 4th ahead of Ingus Eislers, who apparently didn't have enough left for another great finish.
Gabriel Cullaigh gets his best result of the race, taking 6th.
Giacomo Nizzolo ends his home GT with another disappointing result, taking 7th. He wasn't able to do any better than 6th throughout the whole race - surely not what he and his manager had hoped for. Which means that both Festina - OAKA and Team UBS leave this Giro without a single stage podium.
Granjel Cabrera got that podium on the very first occasion, on stage 2. Today, he has to settle for 8th after a sub-par positioning - which holds for most others finishing down here, too.
Cameron Meyer and Jingbiao Zhao round off today's Top 10, while Goss, Afewerki and Appollonio are fighting for 11th.
It's Elias Afewerki who takes it, after he finally managed to sprint past Davide Appollonio. The Italian completely mistimed his sprint, dropping all the way down to 13th, even behind Matthew Goss. Surely a very disappointing way to finish the home GT for the stage 2 winner - but at least, he got that win and the Maglia Rosa for one day!
Finally, the last points of this Giro go to Rein Taaramäe and Danny Van Poppel - with the Estonian finally overtaking the Dutchman again! Van Poppel's positioning was really horrible, hence he didn't have any chance of getting a top result today. Taaramäe, on the other hand, confirms his 2nd place in the points standings - and most importantly his Giro win!
Kamil Malecki - at the same time the race's biggest winner and the last two days' biggest loser - sprints home to 16th, narrowly missing out on some stage points. Which nicely reflects his Giro: almost there, but not quite. Still, it was an amazing race for the Pole and his team!
Timofey Kritskiy, William Chiarello, Abdul Gani and Adrian Malori round off today's Top 20 - and will all be glad that it's over!
And just a little later, the race is officially over for all the riders, as Clarke, Barthe and Edet cross the finish line. The Giro 2020 is done - now let's party!
First, let's celebrate Arnaud Demare! The Frenchman wins today's stage after a close to perfect sprint preparation by his team - he almost couldn't lose that one once he was released by his final leadout. Today's win makes him the most successful rider of this Giro, being the only one along van der Poel having won two stages. Furthermore, he got a total of 5 stage podiums, which is more than any other rider. Congratulations!
Peter Kennaugh takes 2nd for the second time in this Giro, along with a 3rd place. Three stage podiums out of six sprint stages isn't bad - but what's missing is the highlight, the stage win. Once he was beaten by a breakaway rider, and twice by Demare - it's not much that was missing, but still that last ounce that could have made the difference.
Hsuan Ping Hsu will definitely look back on a good Giro, which started for him with the pink jersey after the opening team time trial! He then took 5th, 6th and 5th on the first three flat stages, before being outside the Top 10 on the next two occasions. Today, he put it all together and finally got an individual stage podium - well done!
But now, onto the great winner of the race - a win that definitely makes Rein Taaramäe a ManGame legend! He is only the third rider in history winning all three GTs, along with Aleksandr Pluchkin and Andy Schleck - the latter even winning all Grand Tours twice!
Taaramäe was attentive throughout the whole race, and almost always sprinted for points, being often the best GC rider of the stage. He was the strongest of them in the hills, in the mountains, in the time trial - and therefore is the most logical winner! However, it took until stage 19 for him to finally take over the Maglia Rosa - which he defended without getting into troubles on the final two stages. Although he missed out on a stage win, two 2nd and 3rd places each prove his consistency throughout the race - congratulations, Rein Taaramäe!
The Estonian finally wins the race 1'23" ahead of Timofey Kritskiy, who delivered a great race, too! Although he only finished on the podium once - in the long ITT - he never lost a lot of time to Taaramäe - but wasn't able to endanger him, either. Hence, we finally have exactly the same result as in the 2019 Vuelta a Espana: Taaramäe winning slightly more than a minute ahead of Kritskiy!
Jack Haig taking 3rd place then definitely is a surprise! Of course, he did benefit from Spilak's huge time loss on stage 4 - without that day off, the Slovene would likely have taken this 3rd place. But nonetheless, Haig's consistent riding, being very often among the "best of the rest" behind the Top 2, still makes this a well-deserved podium - one he had to fight for until the final meters on the last ascent!
Let's take a look at the entire Top 10:
1.
Rein Taaramäe
91h51'45"
2.
Timofey Kritskiy
+ 1'23"
3.
Jack Haig
+ 4'01"
4.
Kamil Malecki
+ 4'42"
5.
Warren Barguil
+ 5'14"
6.
Chen Shikai
+ 6'30"
7.
William Chiarello
+ 7'23"
8.
Simon Spilak
+ 7'49"
9.
Andrei Amador
+ 8'26"
10.
Sigurd Nesset
+ 9'30"
Malecki is by far the biggest surprise in this list - and probably one of the biggest surprise in ManGame's GT history! Having gained a lot of time in his stage 5 breakaway - where he took the stage win along with all the jerseys - he proved to be an extremely hard to beat rival, holding onto the race lead until stage 19 - just to finally even drop off the podium on stage 20...
Chiarello taking 7th is also a positive surprise. He just almost always hung on, never having a really bad day - and even attacking at times. "Solid" is what probably describes his race best - in the mountains, on the hills, and - very Evonik-unlike - even in the time trial.
Nesset's 10th place then is a combination of solid riding as well, and some breakaway action. He even took second place on stage 17, the "co-queen-stage". This result should be far beyond his manager's expectations!
The opposite is certainly the case for Spilak. Everything that could go wrong went wrong for him on stage 4, where he for once wasn't positioned well enough, got dropped - and didn't even get the team support he needed. It might not have been beneficial on that day to have Talansky on the team, as they seemed to be fine with Spilak dropping an the US-American staying up front. He did manage to climb up the rankings again, but still ends up far away from the podium spot that would otherwise have been absolutely possible.
To be fair, we have to say that we would have expected more aggressive riding from him in the hills, where he should have been among the strongest. However, the course didn't really favor attacks, it has to be said. Especially the stages ending on a hilltop had far too easy ascents for big gaps to open - which can be said of pretty much all the mountaintop finishes as well. In the end, the Slovene takes 8th place - limiting the damages, but no more.
Schleck and Carapaz are two preview Top 10 contenders who didn't quite deliver - which isn't that surprising, though, both having some clear weaknesses. While the Luxembourger was a valuable domestique for Kirsch, the Swede at least won the final mountain stage and the KoM jersey, while still taking a Top 20 GC result as well.
But the biggest disappointment has to be Reis. He did very well during two thirds of the race - and then had two inexplicably bad days on stages 15 and 19. Instead of taking a Top 10 that seemed to be safe, the Portuguese dropped down to an underwhelming 24th place. This will definitely require some post-race analysis!
But now let's leave behind the disappointing riders and let's go back to the most successful one of this Giro: Arnaud Demare! What was already 99% sure pre-stage now is a fact: he wins his second GT points jersey after the Tour de France last year! He clearly benefitted from the new points system, favoring the sprinters. This assumption is backed by the fact that he didn't win the jersey two years ago despite winning six!!! stages, while two stage wins plus three more podiums were enough this time. Nonetheless, it's definitely a great performance and a well-deserved win!
Rein Taaramäe was often the best placed of the GC riders, although many, many stages went to the breakaway. Still, his four podium spots and other good stage results were enough to take 2nd place in the Maglia Ciclamino standings - ahead of all other sprinters!
One of them actually takes third place, as Peter Kennaugh moved up thanks to his 2nd place of the stage today. Behind, it's a big mix of sprinters, GC riders and frequent escapees, as we have Eislers, Barguil, Contreras, van der Poel, Boswell, Appollonio and Nych completing the Top 10.
While the winner of the points standings was rather clear for a while already, the Maglia Azzurra was subject to a big fight until the second-last day - where Richard Antonio Carapaz finally rode an amazing race, taking the Cima Coppi and the stage win - thereby clearly winning the KoM standings in the end!
Aleksandar Roman wore this jersey for eight days - longer than anyone else - but finally just wasn't strong enough to score any points on yesterday's stage. He still finishes 2nd with 62 points, 28 points - and therefore more than an HC climb - behind Carapaz.
Winner Anacona didn't have the best legs on the queen stage, either, where he tried to take over the jersey - but didn't gain a single point. He still finishes 3rd, which is a nice result for him, too.
And we still get to see Kamil Malecki, as he wins the Maglia Bianca by a huge margin! He took the lead in the U25 standings after stage 3 - and never lost it again! He built up a huge lead thanks to some breakaway appearances - and then simply was the most consistent of the young riders.
Of course, others like Egan Bernal, who finishes 2nd (+ 12'10") took a lot more risks - which sometimes worked out well, and sometimes didn't, resulting in a rather big time loss. With Tom Wirtgen in 3rd place (+ 16'10"), we at least have one of the strongest U25 stage racers on the podium - with most others being on domestique duties, as expected, and therefore not getting a great GC result.
Gazelle have three riders in the Top 10 of the U25 standings - which is definitely an amazing result as well!
And this display of strenght by their youngsters is one of the reasons why Gazelle dominated the team standings, winning by a margin of more than 15 minutes! They had successful breakaway attempts, while still protecting Malecki and his Maglia Rosa - a stunning performance for a team coming here without a top GC rider, but a lot of decent climbers. It's a bit ironic that their weakest climber got their best GC result, though...
EA Vesuvio had a pretty strong lineup, and it finally paid off in the team standings and in the GC. While they miss out on the top result, they have 3 riders in the GC Top 25 - which explains why they finish runner-up in the team standings, 16'04" behind the winners.
Aegon - Peroni make it two Dutch teams on the podium - and at least a partial local representation up there, with their secondary sponsor being Italian. With their 18'30" deficit, they were almost overtaken by the "true" home team, Generali, on the final mountain stage - but the Italians withouth an Italian on their Giro roster have to settle for 4th.
And with these pictures, the 2020 Giro d'Italia comes to an end! We had three wonderful weeks of cycling, with however some bizarre strategic decisions, but a worthy winner in Rein Taaramäe! The riders will now be looking forward to some days off (hopefully), and we're hoping for more great cycling in the remaining Grand Tours this year! Arrivederci al 2021!
Giro d'Italia 
