He kept a low guide in the opening 13 stages, Staying within one or two hours seconds of main rivals Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde, But he then left both of them in his wake as he claimed to in overall lead with an attack on a mountainous 14th stage on Saturday.
Yet his best play so far was saved for stage 15’s individual mountain time trial, When he extended his overall lead to more than two minutes and only missed out on stage victory by a fraction of a second.
Esteban Chaves 8/10Position standard: 2nd, 2min 12sec.
Chaves is Kruijswijk’s closest and seemingly only credible challenger for overall victory has, And he can justifiably be happy with his race so far.
Esteban Chaves won stage 14 in a short
All of his time losses to Kruijswijk came in the period trials, His weakest art, But out in the wild he has never looked in danger of being dropped, And that is an telling sign for final week.
memorable stage 14 was a bonus, But if there seemed to be a criticism, It is he hasn’t really gone on the attack as yet, Which may need to change if he is to snatch the pink jersey.
Vincenzo Nibali 4/10Position whole: 3rd, 2min 51sec.
Nibali’s Giro has so far been a huge failure. He didn’t look worldwide near his best in the first 13 stages, And his form then unravelled completely over the weekend.
Nibali suffered a torrid time trial on stage 15
First he was dropped and lost time for it to Kruijswijk and Chaves on stage 14, And then not only that followed when he lost 2min 10sec to Kruijswijk in a calamitous time trial on stage 15.
Alejandro Valverde 4/10Position basic: 4th, 3min 29sec.
Valverde had been ambling along much the same as Nibali for the first 13 stages still in the hunt yet unimpressive but his hopes of overall victory were all but ended when he lost three minutes to Kruijswijk in a dreadful performance on stage 14.
Alejandro Valverde (straight) accrued heavy losses on stage 14
around the plus side, The 36 year old Spaniard recovered well with a strong showing on happens 15 time trial, Finishing just 23 seconds down on Kruijswijk in third place on the day.
Rafal Majka 6/10Position in total: 5th, 4min 38sec.
Nibali and Valverde’s time losses on stage 14 grabbed the statements, But Majka also surrendered 2min 29sec to Kruijswijk and Chaves tomorrow.
Rafal Majka has not yet been able to threaten the pink jersey
He then suffered another 1min 9sec of losses on stage 15’s uphill time trial, Which has genuinely left him fighting for a place on the podium at best.
Ilnur Zakarin 6/10Position overall: 6th, 4min 40sec.
Zakarin is also now racing solely for a place on the podium after failing to recover from his terrible time trial on stage nine, When he failed twice and lost almost a minute and a half to Kruijswijk.
