Second place finish moves Katusha-Alpecin rider into fifth overall
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Ilnur Zakarin settles for second on the Giro d'Italia's 14th stage(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Ilnur Zakarin makes a final push for the line before being passed by Tom Dumoulin on stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia.(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) leads into the final corner(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) looks across to see Tom Dumoulin zoom by(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) can only watch Tom Dumoulin ride past and take the stage win(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) in the GC group(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) leading up Oropa(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Coming into the cobbled finale, Zakarin looked most likely of the leading trio to take the stage win but only watch on as maglia rosa Tom Dumoulin (Team SUnweb) punched past to take the win. Second place on the stage also gave Zakarin six important bonus seconds with the Russian the biggest mover in the top-ten.
"I am happy with my performance today. Of course I wanted to win the stage but Dumoulin was a bit stronger in the last meters. As I said before, the final week will be very decisive and I focused on it," said Zakarin. "It was only the first fight from a lot of hard days in the Alps and I am only looking to my own performance and not to the other riders. I try to race as best as possible and then we'll see what's going on at the end in Milan."
A stage winner on his Giro debut in 2015, Zakarin was in contention for the overall podium last year only to crash out of the race when sitting fifth overall. He recovered to line out at the Tour de France, winning a stage and finishing 25th overall but has come to the Giro in 2017 aiming for his best Grand Tour result of his young career.
The final week of the Giro provides multiple opportunities for the likes of Zakarin to challenge for stage wins and make a move up the GC. The 27-year-old will be hoping he can continue to make waves on the GC and become the first Russian since Denis Menchov to podium at the race.
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