Van Garderen wins 18th stage, Dumoulin keeps Giro lead

ORTISEI, Italy – Tejay van Garderen claimed his first grand tour victory on the tough 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia as Tom Dumoulin kept the pink jersey on Thursday.

Van Garderen, of the United States, came round the inside of the final corner to edge Mikel Landa at the uphill finish of the 137-kilometer (85-mile) leg from Moeana to Ortisei.

“(Landa) is a strong sprinter and a great climber,” Van Garderen said. “I tried to play it as best I could, but I didn’t know I was going to win until I crossed the line.”

Thibaut Pinot was third, eight seconds behind the front two, after five categorized climbs through the Dolomites.

Van Garderen was clearly emotional after crossing the line, following a difficult couple of years.

He has had to abandon three of his past four grand tours. Van Garderen, who rides for BMC Racing, came to the Giro hoping to contest overall victory but lost valuable time early on.

“It’s been a rough couple of years in Grand Tours as far as the general classification goes, but I did my best to keep the morale high,” he said. “It’s my first Grand Tour victory, so it’s an incredible feeling, especially in an area like this, that I’m so familiar with. I’ve done a lot of camps here, so I know every inch of road. It feels incredible to get this victory.”

Dumoulin took another step toward overall victory with an impressive ride to hold off his main rivals. The Dutch cyclist remained 31 seconds ahead of 2014 champion Nairo Quintana, with two-time champion Vincenzo Nibali third, 1:12 behind.

Pinot is only 24 seconds off a podium place.

“Nibali and Quintana are only focusing on me, and trying to make me lose instead of trying to win,” Dumoulin said. “I really hope that riding like this they will lose their podium spot in Milan, that would be really nice, and I would be really happy.”

Quintana and Nibali knew stage 18 would be their chance to close the gap to Dumoulin. It appeared as if they would do when Quintana attacked on the third climb and Nibali followed him, but Dumoulin paced himself back to them by the summit.

Quintana attacked again with 6 1/2 kilometers to go and opened up a small gap but the Colombian was once again reeled in by the rest of the title contenders.

Dumoulin attacked several more times as he appeared to almost be toying with his rivals. The Team Sunweb cyclist’s grip on the overall lead looked strong as he managed to control the race and deliver a psychological blow to Quintana and Nibali.

“In the last climb I was feeling strong. So I decided to show them that I’m also awake,” Dumoulin added.

Friday’s 19th stage is a tough 191-kilometer (119-mile) route from San Candido to Piancavallo with another uphill finish. The 100th Giro ends in Milan on Sunday.