2018 Giro d'Italia Stage 17 Results & Recap
Stage 17 of the 2018 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
By Clara Beard
Elia Viviani continued to show his excellent form today at the finish of a frenetic, fast 155km stage from Riva del Garda to Iseo, winning his fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia and adding to the Quick-Step Floors grand tally of 35 victories this year.
Viviani’s closest competitor, Sam Bennett (Bora – Hansgrohe) had to settle for second in the rain soaked bunch sprint while Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain – Merida) rounded out the podium in third place.
“My tenth win of the season and my fourth at the Giro d’Italia confirms the level I’ve reached since I joined Quick Step,” Viviani said. “I’ve only doubted myself at Imola where I had a bad day, but I came here with a very well-prepared team that was built to help me win stages. In addition to these victories, the maglia ciclamino was, and remains, my main goal of the season. I was pretty nervous this morning because I knew this was a unique occasion for Sam Bennett to take the jersey away from me. Therefore, we opted for a defensive tactic, firstly to make it back to the back after being dropped in a climb, secondly in the lead-up to the sprint. Eventually, my lead-out men could play their normal role, especially Fabio Sabatini who had a flat tire before my second win in Eilat and a mechanical before my third win in Nervesa della Battaglia. He made the difference in the sprint today.”
Maglia rosa leader Simon Yates safely coasted across the line in Iseo another day closer to his overall victory in Rome. However, the day didn’t unravel like everyone expected. An early series of tough climbs created a desperate energy in the pack, with most teams looking to lodge someone up the road. The breakaway changed riders a handful of times, with the most promising coming from Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy), Alessandro De Marchi Luis Leon Sanchez and Wout Poels (Sky), who were allowed just a minute 30 on the peloton in the latter part of the stage, mostly led by Bora-Hansgrohe. The breakaway was reeled in with 10km to go, and from there it was a charge to the finish.
“I was expecting a much easier day today,”Yates said. “It’s been a very fast stage. Everybody was looking for a breakaway. There were also candidates for a sprint finish. We didn’t make the race difficult but other teams did because they were never happy with the composition of the breakaways. We were happy for the breakaways to stay away but other teams were not, so it came down to a sprint. In the coming three days, I’ll watch Tom [Dumoulin] mostly and the other GC guys. I’m getting closer to the end. As the days tick down, I feel that I’m getting closer to the overall victory but I also feel that difficult days are coming so I’ll be careful. Tomorrow is the only day that I know the final climb but I expect a breakaway to finally succeed.”
Tomorrow’s stage is mostly flat before the road kicks up for a category one finish to Prato Nevoso. It’s the start of series of the final mountain stages before the finish in Rome, and the beginning of the last few chances for GC riders like Dumoulin and Froome to challenge Yates’ jersey. \n
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