Tejay van Garderen (BMC) finally took his first Grand Tour stage edging out Mikel Landa (Team Sky) in a two-way sprint on the streets of Ortisei.
Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) took another crucial step to overall victory with an impressive ride, clocking the same time as Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) to ensure he maintained control of the maglia rosa.
The Dolomite climbs looked tailor-made for Quintana but, try as he could, he failed to make any of his attacks stick and Dumoulin even threatened to extend his lead when he poured on the power on the final ascent.
Vincenzo Nibali also tried to break Dumoulin but he never looked threatened.
The Dutchman and Quintana crossed the line in the same time and with two days of climbing left Dumoulin, leading by 31 seconds, now looks favorite to win the Giro.
A confident-looking Dumoulin cheekily asked Quintana “why you don’t ride?” as they got off their bikes at the finish area – having expected a much stronger attack from his main rival over the day’s five categorized climbs.
Nibali is one minute 12 seconds behind while Thibaut Pinot of France is still in contention after moving into fourth overall, one minute and 36 seconds back.
What a ride!@BMCProTeam star Tejay van Garderen seals a maiden Grand Tour stage win #Giro100 pic.twitter.com/tRlr4J5ck1
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) 25 mai 2017
Giro d’Italia 2017 – stage 18 results (Moena – Ortisei/St. Urlich):
| 1 | Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) | 3:54:04 |
| 2 | Mikel Landa (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 3 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | +08” |
| 4 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | ,, |
| 5 | Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | +11” |
| 6 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +24” |
| 7 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo) | +34” |
| 8 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 9 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +01’06” |
| 10 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | ,, |
| 11 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | ,, |
| 12 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | +01’12” |
| 13 | Sébastien Reichenbach (FDJ) | ,, |
| 14 | Dario Cataldo (Astana) | +01’48” |
| 15 | Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) | ,, |
| 16 | Winner Anacona (Movistar) | +02’20” |
| 17 | Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale-Drapac) | ,, |
| 18 | Hubert Dupont (AG2R) | +03’06” |
| 19 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | +03’55” |
| 20 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | ,, |
General classification after stage 18:
| 1 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | 80:00:48 |
| 2 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +31” |
| 3 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | +01’12” |
| 4 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | +01’36” |
| 5 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +01’58” |
| 6 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | +02’07” |
| 7 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +03’17” |
| 8 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo) | +04’48” |
| 9 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | +07’06” |
| 10 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | +07’24” |
| 11 | Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) | +07’59” |
| 12 | Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal) | +11’16” |
| 13 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +12’24” |
| 14 | Dario Cataldo (Astana) | +14’08” |
| 15 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | +14’18” |
| 16 | Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | +18’07” |
| 17 | Sébastien Reichenbach (FDJ) | +25’26” |
| 18 | Hubert Dupont (AG2R) | +30’27” |
| 19 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +30’50” |
| 20 | Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain Merida) | +36’49” |
