Gorka Izagirre (Movistar) has won a thrilling stage at the Giro d’Italia as the race exploded into life in Puglia.
As the peloton closed in on a lead group of four riders, Izagirre avoided the fall of Valerio Conti, who skidded out on a slippery hairpin inside the final kilometre, and rode clear of fellow escapees Luis Leon Sanchez and Giovanni Visconti.
“It wasn’t on our day’s plan to enter the break, but we saw a chance into that long descent, we also had to keep riders from dangerous teams at reach, and so we decided to give it a try and carry on later on once we made it it”, said Izagirre. “We saw the opportunity to go for the stage and I’m so glad we could finish it off. When Conti crashed just in front of me I was a bit hesitant, because there was still around one kilometer remaining. However, I looked back, saw that there was a split in our group, and I chose to go on full steam until the very end. It was really a long ascent with that action, but I’m just incredibly happy that I got this!”
More to follow…
Gorka the Great!!
Izagirre powers his way to a first ever @giroditalia stage win for @Movistar_Team ?#Giro100 pic.twitter.com/6VrvtXq1B2
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) 13 mai 2017
Giro d’Italia 2017 – stage 8 results (Molfetta – Peschici):
| 1 | Gorka Izagirre (Movistar) | 4:24:59 |
| 2 | Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain Merida) | +05” |
| 3 | Luis León Sanchez (Astana) | +10” |
| 4 | Enrico Battaglin (LottoNl-Jumbo) | +12” |
| 5 | Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) | ,, |
| 6 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | ,, |
| 7 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | ,, |
| 8 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | ,, |
| 9 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 10 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 11 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 12 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 13 | Mikel Landa (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 14 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | ,, |
| 15 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 16 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | ,, |
| 17 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | ,, |
| 18 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 19 | Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) | ,, |
| 20 | Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) | ,, |
General classification after stage 8:
| 1 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | 38:21:18 |
| 2 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | +06” |
| 3 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | +10” |
| 4 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | ,, |
| 5 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | ,, |
| 6 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 7 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | ,, |
| 8 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 9 | Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) | ,, |
| 10 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | ,, |
| 11 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | ,, |
| 12 | Mikel Landa (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 13 | Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) | ,, |
| 14 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +14” |
| 15 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo) | +23” |
| 16 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 17 | Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) | +46” |
| 18 | Tanel Kangert (Astana) | +1’03” |
| 19 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +1’18” |
| 20 | Dario Cataldo (Astana) | +01’32” |
