Movistar and Bahrain-Merida attack while Tom Dumoulin takes natural break at Giro d'Italia

Should they have waited?

With only kilometres to before the final ascent of Stelvio, nature called to Dumoulin and he had to answer. Quintana and co attempted to wait but with the pace picking up Dumoulin was left to ride across the line alone. The moment came to define the last week of the race as the Dutchman lost 2 minutes on Quintana as he lead went to just 31 seconds.
By Henry Robertshaw
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Tom Dumoulin suffered badly-timed stomach trouble on stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia as he was forced to stop at the side of the road with just over 30km to go on the race's queen stage.

>>> Watch: Tom Dumoulin lashes out at Colombian fan pushing Naior Quintana up the Stelvio

The race leader seemed to be in some panic as he pulled over at the side of the road, removing helmet and jersey before running down a bank at the side of the road to relieve himself.

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The Dutchman was quickly back on his bike but he was well off the back of the group containing the rest of the GC contenders.

In a controversial move Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) then attacked off the front of the lead group, with Bahrain-Merida and Movistar then moving to the front to up the pace and put Dumoulin's race lead under threat.

Dumoulin then continued his chase up the Umbrailpass as he tried to hold on to the lead of the Giro d'Italia.

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Henry Robertshaw

Henry Robertshaw began his time at Cycling Weekly working with the tech team, writing reviews, buying guides and appearing in videos advising on how to dress for the seasons. He later moved over to the news team, where his work focused on the professional peloton as well as legislation and provision for cycling. He's since moved his career in a new direction, with a role at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

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