Racing

Photo gallery: the best of the 99th Giro d’Italia

Vincenzo Nibali snatches maglia rosa on final weekend to end enthralling race with second Giro victory

Vincenzo Nibali snatched the maglia rosa with a resurgent final weekend at the Giro d’Italia, to claim his second overall victory in the race.

Nibali was the eighth different rider to pull on the pink jersey in the race, doing so just in time to wear it to Turin for the finale.

In an enthralling race, Steven Kruijswijk had looked to set to pull off a surprise win until he crashed on stage 19 and lost the race lead.

Nibali then ousted Johan Esteban Chaves on the final day, ensuring he has now won four career Grand Tours – placing him joint-tenth on the all-time list.

Relive all the best bits of the race in the gallery below, courtesy of Stefano Sirotti.

Dutchman Tom Dumoulin stormed to victory in his home country in the stage one time trial in Apeldoorn (pic: Sirotti)

That earned Dumoulin the first of two stints in the maglia rosa. His race ended on stage 11 as a result of bad saddle sores (pic: Sirotti)

Marcel Kittel was next to pull on the maglia rosa, after winning the first two road stages. The German has now won four Giro d'Italia stages after one apiece in Belfast and Dublin in 2014 (pic: Sirotti)

Kittel has now worn the leader's jersey at both the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia (pic: Sirotti)

The German continued to lead the points classification - including on his birthday on stage five - but had lost the red jersey by the time he abandoned before stage nine (pic: Sirotti)

Diego Ulissi also racked up the stage wins, with two more to take his career tally to six at the Giro (pic: Sirotti)

Andre Greipel won stages five, seven and 12 before leaving the race after the latter. His win on stage 12 took his Grand Tour career tally to 20 (pic: Sirotti)

He and Tim Wellens ensured a great week for Lotto-Soudal, with Wellens' stage six win sandwiched by two Greipel wins (pic: Sirotti)

Wellens pulled on the blue jersey and Greipel the red as Lotto-Soudal made the most of the first week (pic: Sirotti)

The next man into the pink jersey, meanwhile, was Gianluca Brambilla after his stage eight victory (pic: Sirotti)

The Etixx-QuickStep man was the second of the Belgian team's riders to pull on the maglia rosa this year (pic: Sirotti)

Cycling's popularity seems to be growing to the canine species...

Primaz Roglic won the stage nine time trial after narrowly missing out on stage one (pic: Sirotti)

The 26-year-old, a former Junior World Ski champion, was racing his first Giro d'Italia, having joined LottoNL-Jumbo from Adria-Mobil in the winter (pic: Sirotti)

Giulio Ciccone shows what winning a Giro d'Italia stage means to him and his Bardiani-CSF team (pic: Sirotti)

Bob Jungels followed team-mate Gianluca Brambilla into the pink jersey, the third Etixx-QuickStep man to pull it on. Here he is telling Eurosport's Juan Antonio Flecha how he did it (pic: Sirotti)

Team Sky lost GC man Mikel Landa to illness the day after the rest day, but Mikel Nieve made amends by winning stage 13 (pic: Sirotti)

The same stage, which finished in Cividale del Friuli, saw the GC leadership change hands again. Andrey Amador pulled on the pink jersey for Movistar (pic: Sirotti)

After two stage wins at last year's Vuelta a Espana, Johan Esteban Chaves added to his reputation by winning stage 14 - and it was to get even better for the Colombian too (pic: Sirotti)

First, however, Steven Kruijswijk - so impressive on the Mortirolo 12 months earlier - pulled on the pink jersey (pic: Sirotti)

Alexander Foliforov celebrates his stage 15 win (pic: Sirotti)

Kruijswijk finished second on stages 14, 15 and 16. Alejandro Valverde's victory at the latter ensured the veteran Spaniard became the latest rider to win a stage at all three Grand Tours. 87 riders have now achieved the feat (pic: Sirotti)

Kruijswijk may have missed out on stage wins, but the Dutchman continued to stretch his overall advantage (pic: Sirotti)

Surprise! Roger Kluge - shortly after IAM Cycling announced this is their final year in the pro peloton - sprung a late attack to win stage 17 (pic: Sirotti)

Steven Kruijswijk's custom Bianchi Oltre XR2 turned heads, with a garish pink and celeste paint job (pic: Sirotti)

Matteo Trentin celebrates his stage 18 victory (pic: Sirotti)

Nibali attacked on the descent and went on to win stage 19, while previous leader Steven Kruijswijk crashed and lost time (pic: Sirotti)

Kruijswijk was three minutes clear ahead of stage 19, but a crash curtailed his hopes of victory. The Dutchman shows the scars as he crosses the finish line in Risoul (pic: Sirotti)

Kruijswijk's loss was Chaves' gain - the Colombian pulling on the pink jersey for the first time with just two stages remaining (pic: Sirotti)

Kruijswijk leads his successor Chaves on stage 20, but both men's day was to end in disappoinment - Chaves losing the pink jersey and Kruijswijk dropping out of the top three (pic: Sirotti)

Rein Taaramae was the stage winner, but the real story was unfolding behind him... (pic: Sirotti)

...where Vincenzo Nibali was storming into the race lead (pic: Sirotti)

Mikel Nieve, who won the King of the Mountains classification, congratulates Nibali on the wet Turin startline (pic: Sirotti)

Bob Jungels, Mikel Nieve, Vincenzo Nibali and Giacomo Nizzolo show off the leaders' jerseys on the final stage - or their rain jackets at least (pic: Sirotti)

Flashpoint: there was still time for some late controversey, as Sacha Modolo reacts angrily to Giacomo Nizzolo boxing him in on the final stage (pic: Sirotti)

Nizzolo raised his arms in celebration but was later relegated. It means, despite winning the red jersey in both of the last two years, the Italian has still never actually won a Giro stage (pic: Sirotti)

Nikias Arndt was instead handed the stage win, meaning the race finished as it started - with a Giant-Alpecin stage win (pic: Sirotti)

Vincenzo Nibali takes the applause as he celebrates a second Giro victory (pic: Sirotti)

Nibali's win followed his victory in 2013 - the last time he raced the Giro d'Italia (pic: Sirotti)

And it also takes his career tally to four Grand Tour stage wins (pic: Sirotti)

Nibali is congratulated by the Astana team after his victory (pic: Sirotti)

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