In a career bursting with quite magnificent performances from near-impossible situations, Chris Froome may have just topped the lot.
The 101st Giro D’Italia had witnessed its fair share of British drama already across its 18 stages, thanks to Simon Yates, but number 19 was to belong to Froome and then some, now leading the general classification with just two stages to go.
But that only tells part of the story of a devastating assault from Venaria Reale to Bardonecchia, attacking and holding on from 80km out to claim the stage success and the Maglia Rosa, the latter for the first time ever.
No Brit has ever won the Giro D’Italia and only six men in history have won the Tour de France, La Vuelta a Espana and Giro triumvirate – now Froome is within touching distance of the set.
Forty seconds is his advantage over Tom Dumoulin in the general classification, with Yates unfortunate in finishing a long way back – his chances of Giro glory now over after two weeks in pink.
“It felt like it (the most hectic ride of my career). I don’t think I’ve ever attacked from 80km on my own and gone all the way to the finish,” said Team Sky rider Froome.
“But the team did a fantastic job to set that up for me. It was going to take something really special to first get away from Simon and then Dumoulin.
“To go from fourth to first, I wasn’t going to do that on one climb alone so I had to go from far out and I found the perfect place to do it.
“The gravel road reminded me of riding on the roads back in Africa, it felt good and it was now or never.
“There is still a really hard day on Saturday but the legs are feeling good, I’m feeling better and better as the race has gone on.
“Even in this stage, I gave it everything but tried to stay within my limits and stay within myself, hopefully we can finish this off.”
A solo break it may have been but to label this as a one-rider triumph would devalue the relentless work done by Froome’s Team Sky teammates in the race’s early stages.
Setting a frantic pace from the start, Yates was almost sped out of pink jersey contention right from the off – unable to keep up as he dropped further and further down the field.
But Froome kept his foot on the throat to boost his own chances of glory, seizing the initiative with 80km to go ahead of 2017 champion Dumoulin, at that stage the virtual leader in the chasing pack.
Yet the 33-year-old Brit looked unlikely to stop, taking the King of the Mountains jersey from Yates with some more ferocious climbing – and then seizing the virtual pink jersey with more than 30km of racing still to go.
Crossing the line in 5:12:26, Froome even had the opportunity to raise one arm in the air in celebration, winning the stage by three minutes from Richard Carapaz with Dumoulin a further 23 seconds back.
That, coupled with time bonuses, means 40 seconds is the gap back to the Dutchman – but with more mountains to come on Saturday’s penultimate stage, nothing is written into the history books quite yet. Sportsbeat 2018