Thibaut Pinot's win on Stage 20 was well deserved on Saturday. He rode hard all day, attacked at all the right moments, and moved onto the overall podium. In terms of the race for the pink jersey, Tom Dumoulin was the real winner.

Looking ahead to Sunday's final stage -- a 29km time trial from Monza to Milan -- everyone on Team Sunweb should be pretty optimistic of the Dutchman's chances to carve back his 53-second deficit on race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and win the Giro.

Dumoulin himself was smiling while talking to the media on Saturday after crossing the finish in Asiago. The first thing he said was "finally the climbs are gone." That thought was likely going through the mind of every rider after a long three weeks at the Giro. Dumoulin finished 10th on Stage 20 but was happy with the result. The Team Sunweb rider completed the day just 15 seconds behind the lead group, largely in part to consistent help over the final 20km from Bob Jungles (Quick-Step Floors).

There were bonus seconds available at the line, but they were taken by Pinot (FDJ), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), and Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida). This also worked in Dumoulin's favor. While the Dutchman was bumped off the podium for the first time since Stage 8, he still only trails Pinot by 10 seconds and Nibali by 14.

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Speaking to the press, Dumoulin himself admitted that "the time gaps tomorrow will not be as big as the last TT... will just fight for every second." Three weeks into a grand tour, and with a shorter time trial than what we saw on Stage 14, no one is expecting to see him pull back over two minutes on his rivals again. His biggest obstacle will be the 53 seconds he needs to make up on Quintana. The flat course should play to the strengths of a larger, more powerful rider.

With every team going into Stage 20 with a plan to attack Dumoulin, and the difficulty we've seen him in on previous climbs, we could very easily have seen his general classification goals crushed on the penultimate stage. Instead, Dumoulin weathered the storm and only lost 15 seconds. This is why Tom Dumoulin was the real winner on stage 20 now that we approach the final day of the 2017 Giro, where he is the heavy favorite.

More 2017 Giro d'Italia Coverage

• Stage 20 Recap
• Stage 20 Results
• Stage 20 Highlights
• Complete Giro Results
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