Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) won a sprint finish in the Giro d’Italia 17th stage on Wednesday, his fourth win in this year’s race.
Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) holds the overall leader’s pink jersey after the 155km race in rainy conditions from Riva del Garda to Iseo.
“There’s no easy day at the Giro,” said the 25-year-old Yates. “This was another hard one and it could have some impact on the coming mountain stages.
“I heard about splits in the bunch but I never knew who was caught behind. I hope everyone is tired because I’m tired.”
Viviani’s dash for the line saw him snatch the stage victory from Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe). Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) was third.
Viviani adds to his two stage wins in Israel and last Friday’s 13th stage at Nervesa della Battaglia.
“We knew this could be a very hard stage and it was indeed,” said Viviani, the top sprinters in this year’s race.
“There were very strong breakaway riders but Bora controlled. We played a little bit with them. We did it right because it was the second last stage for sprinters and Bennett could have put my Maglia Ciclamino (sprinter’s jersey) in danger.
“Once it came down to a bunch sprint, I asked my guys to lead me out. When (Danny) Van Poppel (Lotto) anticipated the sprint, I knew it was too early. It was actually perfect for me. I could pass him.”
Thursday’s 18th stage goes from Abbiategrasso on the outskirts of Milan to the ski resort of Pratonevoso, which includes a climb of 13.9 km with a 6.9 percent gradient.
Giro d’Italia 2018 – stage 17 results (Riva del Garda – Iseo):
| 1 | Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) | 3:19:57 |
| 2 | Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 3 | Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 4 | Danny van Poppel (LottoNL-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 5 | Jens Debusschere (Lotto Fix All) | ,, |
| 6 | Kristian Sbaragli (Israel Cycling Academy) | ,, |
| 7 | Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC) | ,, |
| 8 | Sacha Modolo (EF Education First-Drapac) | ,, |
| 9 | Andrea Vendrame (Androni-Sidermec-Bottecchia) | ,, |
| 10 | José Gonçalves (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 11 | Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 12 | Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 13 | Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 14 | Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 15 | Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 16 | Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF) | ,, |
| 17 | Francesco Gavazzi (Androni-Sidermec-Bottecchia) | ,, |
| 18 | Quentin Jauregui (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 19 | Fabio Sabatini (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 20 | Nico Denz (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
General classification after stage 17:
| 1 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | 69:59:11 |
| 2 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +56” |
| 3 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | +03’11” |
| 4 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | +03’50” |
| 5 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +04’19” |
| 6 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | +05’04” |
| 7 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +05’37” |
| 8 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | +06’02” |
| 9 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | +06’07” |
| 10 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +07’01” |
| 11 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +07’13” |
| 12 | Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) | +07’33” |
| 13 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +08’05” |
| 14 | Carlos Betancur (Movistar) | +08’56” |
| 15 | Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale) | +09’48” |
| 16 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +10’03” |
| 17 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +10’07” |
| 18 | Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac) | +11’42” |
| 19 | Sergio Henao (Team Sky) | +14’47” |
| 20 | Jose Goncalves (Katusha-Alpecin) | +14’51” |
