Geraint Thomas bounced back from a day of grovelling on stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia to Santa Cristina Val Gardena to a day of grimacing in the Dolomites and on the little known but steep Passo Brocon climb in the south of the Trentino region.
The Welshman admitted he was not on a great day but his suffering was worth the pain after his Ineos Grenadiers teammates did some superb pacing on the second and final climb of the Passo Brocon. Thomas again tussled with Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) on the climb, responded to the Colombian's single attack and then led him home.
In what has become a fascinating duel for second overall and the role of 'more mortal' behind Tadej Pogačar, Thomas moved up to second following the Lake Garda time trial, before ceding the place of honour and 37 seconds on Monte Pana on Tuesday.
A day later, there was once again little to separate the two former teammates as they crossed the line atop the Passo Brocon level on time in fourth and fifth to head into Thursday's brief respite from the mountains down to Padova. Only 22 seconds separating Martínez and Thomas, with their battle expected to be decided on Saturday's final mountain stage over Monte Grappa.
Stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia brought with it the third summit finish in a row and with it another time gain for the maglia rosa Pogačar.
The Slovenian stayed vigilant but grateful as Team dsm-firmenich PostNL chased down the break of the day. Then Ineos Grenadiers took over after Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) got away alone but opted for a steady pace, with Ben Swift stepping to lead for much of the final climb. They were unable to catch Steinhauser as Swift acted as a safety car and kept a fast but steady tempo for Thomas.
Thomas suggested his teammates had done a good job to set up a potential assault on second place, even if he didn't have the legs to make a move.
"We tried to set a good pace at the bottom and tried to set up to try and attack but I didn't quite have the legs to really go," Thomas explained.
"I just seemed to be on a par with Dani really and a few of the other boys. But it was a good day from the team, and everyone rode really well.
"It's how we've been riding the whole race, really. It's just a shame that Pogačar is as good as he is."
Martínez made the first move from the select GC group, two minutes down the mountain from breakaway stage winner Steinhauser.
The attack, 2.4km from end of the 155km stage, saw Pogačar and Thomas react quickly to stay on his wheel, while white jersey Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Einer Rubio (Movistar), and Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) also held on.
Pogačar then rode away once more while the best of the rest were locked in a stalemate, as Steinhauser celebrated his stage win.
Thymen Arensman lost 13 seconds after working for Thomas, as Ineos Grenadiers made their leadership strategy clear following Arensman's surge on the climb to the finish on Tuesday as Thomas struggled.
"I was kind of happy for it – to try and go over the top," Thomas said of Martínez's move. "But I didn't have the legs to do that. I would've liked to have tried to go with Pogačar, but I was already starting to feel the legs.
"It's the story of the race really. Let him go ahead and then race behind."
Thomas suggested that Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates squad "weren't too bothered" about snaffling yet another stage win, leading to something of a lull in the proceedings which ended up letting the winning move go clear 60km from the finish.
"You could tell that UAE weren't too bothered about the stage, for once," Thomas said, briefly summarising the day.
"They let a nice break go and then DSM rode a real solid tempo over the top of one of the climbs and then down they went super-fast. The bunch was splitting, and it was chaos behind. They brought the group back and then it was kind of starting again. So we just let some riders go, really."
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