Nibali crowned Giro d'Italia champion, Arndt wins stage 21

Nibali, the Italian national champion and leader of the Astana team, crossed the line with his arms around team-mate Michele Scarponi as he won his second Giro d'Italia and his fourth Grand Tour.

Another Italian, Trek-Segafredo's Nizzolo, looked to have won a chaotic sprint for the stage victory but was later declassified for impeding compatriot Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida). The controversial decision elevated German's Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) to stage winner – although Nizzolo took consolation in winning the red jersey points classification for a second successive year.

An eventful conclusion to the 99th edition of La Corsa Rosa also saw the race jury take the drastic decision of neutralising the stage times on entry into Turin ahead of eight city centre circuits due to heavy rain which caused a number of crashes on the 21st and final stage of the race.

Three riders were forced to abandon before the finish while Colombian runner-up Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) hit the deck on two separate occasions – the first alongside Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk, the LottoNL-Jumbo rider who looked destined to win the race before Chaves, and then Nibali, rose to the top of the pile in what proved a nail-biting final few days.

After three long and hard weeks of racing, Nibali was crowned the 2016 champion by 52 seconds over Colombia’s Chaves, with Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) third at 1:17.

Kruijswijk, who led the 2013 champion by almost five minutes before crashing on Friday as Nibali injected new life into his pink jersey hopes with a stunning victory in Risoul, finished in fourth place at 1:50.

Polish climber Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) completed the top five, while Bob Jungels (Etixx-QuickStep), Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Darwin Atapuma (BMC) and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Dimension Data) finished in the top ten.

Luxembourg’s Jungels won the white jersey youth classification while Spanish climber Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) added the blue climber’s jersey to his stage win in the Dolomites to help turn things round for the British team, whose star rider Mikel Landa was forced out after the second rest day through illness.

In what threatened to be simply a processional ride to the death, LottoNL-Jumbo team-mates Maarten Tjallingii and Jos Van Emden threw out the rulebook with a daring attack as the peloton entered Turin for the final eight circuits.

Perhaps mindful that a two-man break had defied the sprinters on the final day of the 2015 race, the Dutch duo built up a maximum lead of 1:05 over the peloton as five riders – including stage winners Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) and Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-QuickStep) – failed to bridge the gap.

A large crash inside the final 30 kilometres brought down both Chaves and Uran, and forced Johann van Zyl (Dimension Data) and Jasha Sutterlin (Movistar) to withdraw within striking distance of completing their maiden Giros. Earlier in the day the experienced Dane Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal) had also abandoned after fracturing a shoulder blade in a crash in the torrential rain.

The rain had eased but returned as Tjallingii and Van Emden kept their dream alive – forcing the race organisers to neutralise the GC times on grounds of safety. As a result the peloton split into numerous groups, with only the sprinters and their team-mates continuing the chase.

Tjallingii – the 38-year-old veteran riding his final Grand Tour before retiring – was first to fade before Van Emden followed suit, caught at the top of the punchy climb at the start of the final circuit with 6km remaining.

A counter-attack by Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani-CSF) came to a sudden end when the Italian clipped a spectator with a camera on the side of the road and was sent sprawling. Belgian Sean De Bie (Lotto-Soudal) led the leading group of 30 riders under the flamme rouge before Romania’s Eduard Grosu took over the reins for Nippo-Vini Fantini.

But a sprint finally materialised when Nizzolo powered through on the outside – only to veer suddenly into the path of Modolo in a move which would prove costly. Having celebrated wildly his first ever stage win on a Grand Tour, Nizzolo was subsequently stripped of the victory – and youngster Arndt gifted his own first win on one of cycling’s three major stage races.

Shortly after the sprint played out, a second group of riders crossed the finish line – including 31-year-old Nibali, who could add the 2016 Giro crown to his 2013 victory in the same race, his 2014 Tour de France win and his 2010 Vuelta a Espana title.

Vincenzo Nibali’s fourth Grand Tour victory puts him among his nation’s best ever cyclists – if not above the great Fausto Coppi then at least in the same league as the likes of Gino Bartali, Alfredo Binda and Constante Giradengo. The Sicilian’s fourth Grand Tour win was also his most unlikely – languishing as he was almost five minutes down on GC ahead of the final two stages in the Alps following his meltdown in the mountain time trial of stage 15.

“It’s been an extremely difficult Giro d’Italia so it’s a great joy to be here in Turin,” Nibali told Eurosport’s Giro Extra. “The hardest day was the time trial – it didn’t go as I wanted it to go, the sensations weren’t good, I had stomach problems and mechanical issues. I’ve had some low points but the final week ended well for me. It’s hard to express exactly how I feel at this moment – it’s a beautiful feeling.”

Take your pick from the three riders who crashed out of the race on the home leg or the man who thought he’d finally won his maiden Grand Tour stage win. Bak, Sutterlin and Van Zyl will all have a DNF next to their names after nasty falls in the wet conditions that marred the race’s final stage – a particularly bitter pill to swallow for Grand Tour debutant Sutterlin.

But the rider who may feel the most aggrieved will be the man who had initially celebrated finally getting the monkey off his back – picking up an elusive Grand Tour stage win after nine second places, four thirds and 28 top tens.

“It’s finally come, I’m very happy with this win. I had to fight hard. It was hard to control, as a sprinter it was hard on the legs but in the end it was all up here,” said Nizzolo, pointing to his head.

But in the end, it wasn't so much his head which made the difference but the decision of the race officials, who stripped Nizzolo of the win and awarded it to Arndt, meaning Germany had notched seven stage wins in the Giro for the first time in history.

As for Nizzolo, the 27-year-old cut a forlorn figure as he put in an appearance to pick up his red jersey on the podium. He becomes the first man in a decade to retain the red jersey – but did so once again without winning a stage.

With Vincenzo Nibali coming into such strong form towards the end of the race will Astana now make him – and not compatriot Fabio Aru – Astana’s protected leader in the Tour de France? Be sure to return in July to find out…