Steven Kruijswijk climbed to seventh place in the Giro d'Italia’s 18th stage through the Dolomites to Ortisei today. Tejay Van Garderen won the stage with five climbs, three over 2000 metres, and Kruijswijk crossed the line 34 seconds later with some classification men behind him. The LottoNL-Jumbo Dutchman moves to eighth overall behind race leader Tom Dumoulin.

"It was only 137 kilometres, but 137 kilometres in which everyone was on his limit," said Kruijswijk. "I’m better compared to the first week, when I didn’t have this level. The cause of this may be due to that crash. “ He referred to his fall in the Tour de Yorkshire, causing a rib fracture. He also fell in the Giro’s stage four to Mount Etna.

Today, two early leaders stayed in front and sprinted for the win in Ortisei. The group of favourites fell apart and Domenico Pozzovivo, Thibaut Pinot and Ilnur Zakarin managed to take time. After them Kruijswijk finished with Bauke Mollema.

"Fortunately, I can now show that I have the level. You can see that it’s very high and that I can go with the others.”

The stars lit up the race halfway in on the Passo Gardena. Movistar drove the pace high and Quintana launched what everyone knew was coming.

“Vincenzo Nibali jumped to him and Dumoulin closed the gap. I could follow well and in the last 25 metres of the climb, we closed the gap. There were two men still away in the end, and that's a pity because it would have been nice to race for the win. We can take advantage of the battle between the three podium candidates, a bit gambling with the stage win possible."

More than eighth place may be tough for Kruijswijk, who sits 5-48 minutes behind.

"Today you could see that I cannot drop the other riders easily. I hope that I can hold my good legs this week,” he added. “Fortunately, I can now say that I have the level again, but unfortunately I was not consistent enough in the first week and I slipped away."