Giro finishes with Milano ITT

The Giro came to a slightly disappointing end today with man-of-the-moment Mikel Nieve failing to hang onto his top 10 overall after a rather poor, yet not surprising, performance in the concluding 26km ITT. The Leitza native has been struggling with a cold these last few days and was off-colour in his dreaded discipline and ended up 114th, 3:47 down on Millar, and thus dropped to 11th overall. But still, what a race by the climber! Prior to the Giro start I dreamt off a repeat performance of the Vuelta '10 from him. And what did we get? A carbon copy: a win in the queen-stage and 11th overall. That's sensational from a Giro debutant and a relative newbie to pro racing all together. If people didn't know his name prior to the race they most surely do now. Can't wait to see him in tandem with 'Mister Zoncolan' in the Vuelta in September! Speaking of 'Mister Zoncolan', Antón ended up 18th on GC after another time trial that leaves a lot to desired. He came in 97th, 3:25 off the pace, but he won't dwell on it I'm sure. He won on Zoncolan and should be more than pleased. That win will go down in history as one of the team's greatest ever triumphs, so thank you Igor Antón for an unforgettable experience. Speaking post-race, Antón said all the usual stuff about the stage-win and the Giro's brutal parcours, but saved some poetry for last: "The Giro was hell, but we found paradise along the way". Can hardly be put better, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Final GC:

• 11, Nieve
• 18, Antón
• 63, Isasi
• 68, Azanza
• 115, Aramendía
• 124, Cazaux
• 135, Mínguez
• 149, Sesma

Euskaltel ended up a respectable ninth in the team rankings.