KEY POINTS:
New Zealand cyclist Julian Dean looks like completing cycling's Giro d'Italia despite battling pain for nearly the duration.
The three-week tour finishes in Milan on Sunday and Dean admitted he was looking forward to it after suffering rib and shoulder injuries in a second stage fall on May 11.
"This year's giro has been a roller coaster, to say the least," Dean wrote on his website.
"The thing about a three-week stage race is that it's always hard but if you have an injury, it becomes a relentless battle."
Riding for his Slipstream team, sprint specialist Dean is more than two hours 40 minutes behind leading Spaniard Alberto Contador.
That puts him in 136th place out of the 146 remaining riders, with 52 riders having pulled out during the first 16 stages.
Compatriot and Francaise des Jeux rider Tim Gudsell is 12min behind Dean in 151st.
Dean helped his team to victory in the opening team trial stage but the rest of the tour had become a physical grind.
" I have suffered badly since and haven't felt at all comfortable on the bike," he said.
"Not only because of the injury but also because I reckon the parcours (pace) in the first week have been the toughest of any of the 10 grand tours that I've done so far in my career.
"The hard stages haven't given much room for recovery from each day's effort, let alone recovery from the crash."
"At a lot of different times during the week I considered stopping the race. I would even go as far to say that the first week has been the biggest grovel of my career."
After enjoying a rest day overnight, Dean said he was feeling better now than after the first week but was still struggling.
" There's only likely to be another two or three chances at the most for me to do something," he said.
"I have to try and make the most of those. Let's hope things continue to improve as I try and get among the mix again whenever I have the chance."
- NZPA
