He still had to overhaul new race leader Johan Esteban Chaves on the penultimate day, which he duly did, to cement his second Giro d’Italia win and fourth Grand Tour victory in all.

And while he admits Kruijwijk’s crash into the snow banks on the descent of the Agnello paved the way for his victory, Nibali insists fortune favoured the brave.

Nibali attributed intestinal problems to his weak performance in the mountain time trial, a day on which he lost more than two minutes to Kruijswijk.

But he recovered on the rest day to follow up his victory in his last Giro d’Italia appearance, in 2013, to move level with Roberto Heras and Tony Rominger on four career Grand Tour wins – the joint-tenth most.

Chaves, 26, who was pipped to a first Grand Tour win on the final day in the mountains, insists his second place is just the start .

“I have learnt that dreams can come true,” the Orica-GreenEDGE man said. “If you keep working and never give up then your dreams can come true.

“I would not be in this position without the magnificent work and support of my teammates and everyone involved with Orica-GreenEDGE, I would like to thank all of them.

“These last few days have been the best of my life. This is just the beginning, that is what I told my teammates and this is what I believe.”

Giro d’Italia: other classifications

Points classification: Giacomo Nizzolo (ITA) – Trek Factory Racing
King of the Mountains: Mikel Nieve (ESP) – Team Sky
Best young rider: Bob Jungels (LUX) – Etixx-QuickStep
Team classification: Astana