Astana’s Vincenzo Nibali secured his second Giro d’Italia triumph yesterday after topping a dramatic 99th edition that saw key rival Steven Kruijswijk agonisingly crash during the final stages.
 Germany’s Nikias Arndt, of the Giant team, celebrated winning the final stage into Turin although it came only after Giacomo Nizzolo, of the Trek team, was stripped of the victory by race judges who ruled the Italian had hampered other riders by deviating from his sprint line.
 Nibali, who won the race for the first time in 2013, becomes the 69th Italian in 99 editions to win the race for the pink jersey and celebrated by riding into Turin on a metallic-pink bike surrounded by his Astana teammates.
 “It’s an amazing feeling to ride into Turin with all my teammaes like this,” said Nibali. “It’s really indescribable.”
 Nibali finished the race with a 52sec lead on Colombian Esteban Chaves (Orica), with Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) completing the podium at 1min 17sec behind on his maiden participation at 36 years old.
“It’s a great race, and the public were brilliant,” said Valverde, who won the Tour of Spain in 2009 but failed several times to win the Tour de France.
“To finish on the podium for my first participation is a huge honour for me.”
 Kruijswijk, for whom this edition is likely to be unforgettable, finished in fourth place overall and has plenty of reason for regret. He held a huge lead of 4min 43sec on Nibali going into the final mountain stages on Friday and Saturday and was on course to make history by becoming the first Dutchman to win the race’s fabled pink jersey.
 But when the Lotto team leader crashed into a snowbank on the descent of the Col d’Agnello – whose summit sits on the French/Italian border – on Friday, it was enough to awaken Nibali from his slumber.
Nibali, known as ‘Lo Squalo’ (The Shark), seized on the setback and rose up from the depths to grab the race by the scruff of the neck.
With an overnight deficit of nearly five minutes, Nibali raced to the stage win in Risoul, where he won a stage on his way to Tour de France glory in 2014, to leave Kruijswijk bloodied, battered and virtually out of contention at over 20secs behind him.
It left Chaves with the pink jersey, but Nibali was only 44sec behind and put his team to work on the final day in the mountains on Saturday.
He finished sixth on the final stage in the mountains, but far enough ahead of a tiring Chaves to seize the race lead, and the pink jersey, on Saturday night.
Yesterday’s final stage – a 134 km ride from Cuneo – was set aside for a sprint finish on the damp roads of Turin. But, in keeping with the drama of the past few days, it finished in controversy.  In his desperation for a maiden Giro stage win, Nizzolo deviated from his line as he began his final dash on a damp, uphill section of road leading to the finish. His questionable manoeuvre – sprinters are supposed to keep their line – ended the hopes of Sacha Modolo as the Lampre rider fought to get up inside the barriers, and his angry hand gesture was testament to his frustration.
Final classification
1. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana) 86:32:49”
2. Esteban Chaves (Colombia/ Orica) +52”
3. Alejandro Valverde (Spain/ Movistar) +1:17”
4. Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands/LottoNL) +1:50”
5. Rafal Majka (Poland/Tinkoff) +4:37”
6. Bob Jungels (Luxembourg/ Etixx-Quick-Step) +8:31”
7. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/ Cannondale) +11:47”
8. Andrey Amador (Costa Rica/Movistar) +13:21”
9. Darwin Atapuma (Colombia/BMC Racing) +14:09”
10. Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus/Dimension Data) +16:20”

Protest as Tour of Belgium riders demand better safety
Tour of Belgium riders staged a protest ahead of the fourth stage yesterday, asking for better safety conditions after Belgian Stig Broeckx went into a coma following a crash caused by motorbikes.
“The riders started the stage after a few minutes’ delay to show their pre-occupation over safety in races,” read a statement from the riders’ association (CPA).  “CPA and AIGCP (group of professional teams) demand that new measures... are implemented faster.”
Broeckx, who competes for the Lotto-Soudal outfit, is in a coma after two race motorbikes caused an accident on the third stage on Saturday. His team have since quit the race. In March, Belgian rider Antoine Demoitie died after being hit by a motorbike during the Gent-Wevelgem one-day race. The International Cycling Union (UCI) ruling body said it had “recently introduced strict new rules governing the conduct of motorcycle riders in races” and that they would “be looking very closely at what happened... to determine whether those rules were respected.”
Leading German rider Tony Martin said: “What we need now is a round table with UCI, race organisers and riders to force changes and decide one safety standard for every race.”