2020 Giro d'Italia Stage 17 Results & Recap
Stage 17 of the 2020 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
O'Connor claims victory for NTT on stage 17
NTT Pro Cycling's Ben O'Connor took an emotional win at the Giro d'Italia on Madonna di Campiglio after spending the day in the 18 rider breakaway. O'Connor attacked with eight kilometres to go and held on to his advantage despite a hard pursuit from Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain - McLaren).
"Yesterday I was pretty disappointed but I think that I’ve said before that I was very happy with how I raced. Today I think I was the strongest in the race, at the front, and I managed to pull it off," O'Connor said in the team release. "My tears at the end were just a bit of pride, yesterday it was so close and I was just missing a bit in the end, but I think it’s easy to be inspired when the people around you need inspiration. I think our team really needed this win, I really needed this win as did my family and friends, who put a lot of faith in me. I think I cried as it was a sense of overwhelming relief because the amount of effort and work that not just I put in but everyone around you does. Just from yesterday, there was so much support that it would have been a shame not to try again. You know the team situation, everyone does, and it’s not good but it’s racing like we are now which gives hope to the team and to everyone as it’s proof that we can do it: as our bus driver says it’s a little bit of “grinta”.
JoĂŁo Almeida (Deceuninck - QuickStep) retained his pink jersey for yet another day after a hard 203km day in the mountains. Almedia leads Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) by 17 seconds before tomorrow's queen stage, which will be heading up the famous Stelvio ascent.
“Knowing the gap was small at the start of this long stage packing four classified ascents, I was thinking that I could lose the jersey today, but I surprised myself. I felt very good and I could rely again on a huge team, who did excellent work controlling the bunch and rode their hearts out for me. Towards the final, my opponents tested me, but I felt good and immediately marked them.”
“Now it’s time to recover and prepare for Thursday’s stage. It will be very hard, especially as the temperature will be low at over 2700 meters, but at the end of the day, it’s the same for everybody. I am ready to fight and honour this iconic jersey on the iconic climb that is the Stelvio. I know it, as I did it before, I’m confident and I am ready for anything.”
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