2015 Giro d'Italia Stage 17 Results & Recap
Stage 17 of the 2015 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) took his second stage victory, winning the sprint in Lugano on stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia. He outsprinted Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek) and Luka Mezgec (Giant-Alpecin) on the shore of Lake Como, in what was Lampre’s fourth stage win in this year’s race.
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) was safely in the field and defended his overall lead, with no changes in the top of the GC.
The stage, a short and fairly relaxed one, saw Iljo Keisse (Etixx-QuickStep), Marco Bandiera (Androni Giocattoli) and Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini) form an early break, which stayed away, but not far away, for much of the day. Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) and Luca Paolini (Katusha) were in late and unsuccessful breaks.
The day added to Lampre-Merida’s success at the Giro. It was Modolo’s second stage win, after winning the mass sprint in Jesolo on stage 13. The team can now claim four wins, with Jan Polanc taking stage 5 and Diego Ulissi stage 7.\nHow it unfolded
The peloton faced unfamiliar weather conditions at the start line Wednesday afternoon in Tirano with sunshine and warm temperatures. And with a short stage of only 134 kilometres, the riders could have a relaxed morning and a late start.
The climbing started after only eight kilometers, but the third category Teglio would be the only obstacle of the day. The break had already formed, though, with Iljo Keisse (Etixx-QuickStep), Marco Bandiera (Androni Giacattoli) and Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini) getting away only two kilometres into the day.
The trio built up a lead of up to three minutes, but were not allowed to go any further than that. With 60 kilometres to go, it had fallen to under two minutes. It was a stage made for a successful escape, but also for the few remaining sprinters in the race.
Various teams led the chase, as all enjoyed a quieter day after the exertions in the mountains on Tuesday. With 40 kilometres to go, the gap hovered around the minute mark but within the next 10 kilometres it was under 30 seconds. And with exactly 27 kilometres left, the break was caught.
A small and unranked climb some 25 kilometres before the finish saw Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) and Patrick Gretsch (AG2R) attack. Darwin Atapuma (BMC) scurried up to join them. Hansen attacked again and left the other two behind him. The Australian took off in pursuit of his second Giro stage win, having won one in 2013. Gretsch gave chase but Atapuma was unable to stay with the German. The two were soon caught again by the field, with Giant-Alpecin leading the way.
Hansen, appearing in his 11th consecutive Grand Tour, held a narrow lead but was caught again before the race entered Switzerland. Tinkoff-Saxo had taken back the lead of the race by then, on the narrow roads skirting Lake Como.
Tom Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin) was the next to try his luck, 5.5 kilometres from the finish line. Philippe Gilbert (BMC) moved up to join him, but they were caught. Luca Paolini (Katusha) took off with about 3 km to go and quickly built up a decent lead.
Trek was the only team with two riders in the chase, which was otherwise unorganized. Paolini, who regularly trains on this road, looked to be away, but was caught again. Lampre Merida led the way into the final kilometre, boasting three men in the lead-out and Modolo pulled through to take the win, his second of this Giro. Nizzolo pipped Mezgec at the line to take second.
Get our full coverage of the Giro d'Italia and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
