Giro d'Italia 2019: Stage 17

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January 1 - June 2, Commezzadura (Val Di Sole), Italy, Road - WorldTour

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Live coverage of stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia, another mountain stage with a summit finish at Anterselva.

 

Welcome, the mountains continue in the final week of the Giro. There's nothing like the Mortirolo today, but there's still a tough parcours with a demanding final climb and at this point in the race, any weaknesses are very much magnified. Richard Carapaz has shown no signs of it so far - what can Vincenzo Nibali conjure up today? 

This is the profile. There's an early climb up the Passo della Mendola, which is uncategorised but not insignificant. After a descent it's uphill towards a pair of shorter climbs before the final climb to Anterselva, which arguably warrants more than third-category status. 

The last of the riders are signing on in Commezzadura and we're just under 10 minutes from the start of today's stage.

Here's the race leader, Richard Carapaz (Movistar)

And here is how he leads after 16 stages...

Before we get going, how about a re-cap of yesterday's action. No Gavia, but the Mortirolo produced plenty of drama. Ciccone took a fine win from the break, while Nibali went on the offensive and twisted the knife into Roglic but failed to inflict any damage on Carapaz. 

We're off!

All together in the early kilometres despite the usual attempts to get away up the road. 

Movistar are set to take control of the peloton again today. It has to be said, they were very impressive yesterday, as they have been all race. They controlled the peloton for much of the day, and when Nibali went on the move Pedrero and Landa managed the situation perfectly and kept Carapaz within touching distance. On the descent and start of the drag to the line they had Amador from the break. Landa, who many had predicted might fancy his chances of attacking from range and even unseating his own teammate, committed to the Carapaz cause.

It has been a fast start on the early downhill roads. It now drags up and we have a bit more movement off the front of the bunch.

163km remaining from 181km

Pieter Serry (Deceuninck-QuickStep) jumps across to make it six, but their advantage is slim and the peloton hasn't sat up yet.

That move comes to nothing as Valerio Conti tries to join and others in the peloton refuse to give up. This is a fast start and a demanding one as we're on the drag towards the Passo della Mendola.

The peloton is splitting now on this section of road

The first two splits in the peloton come back together but there's still a group, including Arnaud Demare, who punctured, at 15 seconds.

We're 25km in and no breakaway has formed. EF and Mitchelton are very active in the peloton. The Passo della Mendola officially begins in just under 10km, though it isn't categorised.

Demare and co are back in, so the peloton is all back together. Still riders trying to get away.

The peloton hits the first climb. Here's how it looks. 

Conti goes clear with Nans Peters (AG2R), but Mitchelton shut it down. Conti goes again. 

Nothing sticking so far and they're still going hard. This is the sort of start that can sap the legs and have an effect later on, redressing the balance of a parcours isn't, on paper, as difficult as yesterday. 

But now a move of around 10 riders is going clear. 

They have 20 seconds but more are clipping off from the peloton and it's certainly not settled yet.

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) is up the road, so you know it's a decent day for the break. 

A couple more riders set off in pursuit and now, finally, it seems to be calming down back there. 

Fausto Masnada (Androni) is in the break and has already attacked it... The Italian leads solo with a few seconds over the rest. Plenty of riders still in between break and peloton, including Conti and Maestri.

Here are the riders in the break

Vendrame and Roglic's teammate Koen Bouwman make it over to the break to make it 11. Names to follow. 

In the break are:

140km remaining from 181km

Movistar hit the front of the peloton but more riders now jump to try and get across. Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-QuickStep) goes clear with Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) and they catch Conti. 

Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) has attacked from the peloton. Yes, you read that right. The French sprinter, leader of the points classification, is possibly eyeing the intermediate sprint in Bressanone after 108km.

Demare is unable to get away. The new attacks have seen Movistar up their tempo and the gap to the break has come down to 42 seconds. 

Davide Formolo (Bora-Hansgrohe) has joined that Jungels/Brambilla move. The Italian is 12th overall and is unlikely to be allowed away.

138km remaining from 181km

The Sunweb duo of Jan Bakelants and Jai Hindley have joined that Jungels/Brambilla/Formolo move in the final part of that climb.

Jungels is flying down this descent, trying to close the gap to the break. 

Some minor splits in the bunch on this fast, sinuous descent. 

In the second group on the road, Formolo is matching Jungels, but the others are struggling to hold the Luxembourg champion's daredevil lines. 

Jungels and co reach Maestri, who was still stuck in between. 

Hamilton is the second Sunweb rider - not Hindley.

125km remaining from 181km

The new breakaway composition

The breakaway have come to the bottom of the descent. Now comes an extended false flat section which will be key to their chances of carving out a winning advantage.

Formolo is the best placed rider up the road, 12th at 11:51. 

121km remaining from 181km

117km remaining from 181km

After some splits on the descent, a couple of dropped groups take advantage of the lull to get back into the peloton. 

One of the topics of discussion over the last few days has surrounded the mechanical problem and bike change for Primoz Roglic during Sunday's dramatic finale. It was revealed after the stage that the DSs had stopped for a late comfort break and Roglic was forced to take his teammate Antwan Tolhoek's bike. During the rest day, there was some questionable speculation in the Italian press about what happened to Roglic's broken bike. It turned out that Tolhoek had picked up a replacement bike from Movistar, who then brought the Jumbo-Visma bike to the finish. Movistar DS Max Sciandri elaborated further on the incident. You can read the full story here. 

105km remaining from 181km

It's interesting that Jungels is in the breakaway today. He's had a bit of a 'mare of the Giro d'Italia so far. He lost over 18 minutes yesterday, though you might wonder if that was a deliberate move given that he'd already lost well over 30 minutes before yesterday's stage. How he'd love to salvage something from his Giro d'Italia. 

It is also intriguing to see that Jumbo-Visma have put Koen Bouwman up the road again. He was in the breakaway yesterday and Primoz Roglic might want to use him to help in the finale today. Roglic has noticeably been without teammates in crucial points in the big stages and he could really do with another Jumbo-Visma rider in the mix closer to the finish. It was a torrid day for Roglic yesterday, but he told reporters that he was not ready to give up. 

96km remaining from 181km

Ineos are looking after the interests of Pavel Sivakov, who has been enjoying a strong debut Giro d'Italia. Sivakov had the white jersey taken off him by Miguel Angel Lopez yesterday, but he still sits in ninth place overall. With Ineos' big hope Egan Bernal being forced to miss the Giro d'Italia, ninth place would be a great result for them at the end of the race. 

Behind the drama in the general classification, there was some drama of a different kind when AG2R La Mondiale rider Alexis Vuillermoz fell down a ravine after suffering an asthma attack. Thankfully, he made it to the finish and even made the start today. Read the full story here. 

91km remaining from 181km

*** Thomas De Gendt Breakaway Klaxon ***

Front wheel puncture for yesterday's winner Ciccone in the peloton, but he won't have much trouble getting back in. 

78km remaining from 181km

74km remaining from 181km

Bakelants has attacked from the break

Still a very long way to the finish but Bakelants is opening up a handy margin here.

70km remaining from 181km

Here's what the climb looks like. Short, but pretty steep. 

Change at the front of the peloton as they now come onto the climb. Puccio hits the wind for Ineos. 

Bakelants is extending his lead on the climb. He has 38 seconds now with just over a kilometre to go. 

65km remaining from 181km

Behind, Masnada clips off to collect a few mountains classification points. He's fifth in that competition on 45 but really no one is catching Ciccone on 229, providing the Italian makes it to Verona in one piece. 

Ineos lead the peloton over the top of the climb. They haven't really made any inroads. They're seven minutes behind the breakaway, of which Bakelants has now moved one minute clear. 

A shot of the breakaway

Slightly odd, early move from Bakelants but it's working out and does perhaps give him some margin for error when the next two climbs start to bite. 

Bahrain-Merida take control of the peloton on the short descent. 

52km remaining from 181km

Bakelants hits the second categorised climb of the day. Here it is. 

Sutterlin comes back to the front of the bunch and it appears Movistar, Ineos, and Bahrain are sharing the workload.

CCC have started to take the initiative in the breakaway group. Bakelants still has just over a minute. 

"In this moment, it's really complicated."

De Gendt raises the tempo in the break on the climb. 

De Gendt is tracked by Neilands and the two of them are away from the rest. The gap to Bakelants consequently plummets. 

47km remaining from 181km

Masnada and Brambilla set off and join De Gendt and Neilands. 

Formolo leads the rest of the group behind. 

46km remaining from 181km

45km remaining from 181km

Back in the peloton, it's still Ineos, Bahrain, and Movistar trading turns. They're 6:30 behind and it looks like the winner will come from the break.

Chaves and Kangert are in a chasing group with Antunes, De la Parte and Vendrame. 

More disappointment for Jungels, who was looking to bounce back here after bleeding time daily on GC. He's been dropped from the break. 

Jungels is in fact in that chase group - in front of it, in fact, as he looks to make up ground on the final downhill roads. So he couldn't follow that first group on the climb but it's not necessarily over for him. Bouwman is also back in that chase group now. 

Conci has managed to finally make contact with that front group on the descent, along with Conti. 

Jungels, Chaves, Kangert and co are 25 seconds down on the front group. 

Maestri gets back onto the chase group, so that's eight in there and 10 out front. So all 18 original breakaway riders are still in the mix. 

Ineos are setting a strong tempo now, trying to keep this break under control as they're worried about Formolo. The gap stands at 6:35 and Sivakov started the day four minutes ahead of the Italian on GC. 

As the road flattens out, the Jungels chase group is coming back to the front of the race. 

29km remaining from 181km

The chase group splits briefly as they close the gap but the gap is closed and all 18 breakaway riders are back together, with a lead of 6:23 over the peloton. 

25km remaining from 181km

Conti now drops Conci.

Conci is caught by Bakelants, Peters, Neilands, Kangert, Bouwman, and Vendrame. That's the first chase group. Formolo, Jungels etc further back. 

Another regrouping in the break, and it's just Conti ahead of the rest.

21km remaining from 181km

Astana have joined the drive at the head of the peloton. 

The roads are all uphill from here to the finish but the final climb only begins officially with 5.5km to go, so in around 14km time. This is what's in store.

Stage honours are going to go to the breakaway, but to who?

And will we see any GC fireworks? There are some steep ramps on the final climb, and Nibali is running out of road, so he may well be tempted to try and bag something. 

16km remaining from 181km

Peters disappears quickly up the road. No initial response from the others. The Frenchman will be hoping for a distinct lack of cooperation. 

Peters has found 30 seconds already.

12km remaining from 181km

10km remaining from 181km

The pace ebbs from the chase group and the gap grows to one minute. Conti gets nervy and attacks.

Jungels leads the pursuit of Conti. 

8km remaining from 181km

These riders are still doing half-hearted turns. Not even the teams with multiple riders (Trek, Androni, CCC) are taking responsibility. 

8km remaining from 181km

Chaves attacks in pursuit of Conti now.

Chaves quickly reaches Conti and the Italian settles into the Colombian's wheel.

Meanwhile, Ineos, with Jhonatan Narvaez, lead the peloton at 5:22.

That Chaves move has sparked moves from the others. Neilands tries to make his way across. 

7km remaining from 181km

Neilands successfully reaches Chaves and Conti.

6km remaining from 181km

Neilands calls for more collaboration from Conti. 

Neilands, Conti, Chaves have a good 10 or 15 seconds over the rest of the break. 

Peters hits the climb. Here it is again. 

5km remaining from 181km

Astana still working in the peloton as they keep the gap at 5:30. That's to Peters, though, meaning they're 4:30 behind Formolo and the rest of the break. 

Conti, Chaves, and Neilands are making no inroads here. Peters still has 56 seconds with 4km to go. 

The rest of the break appear out of it now, at 1:30 already. 

Kangert tries an acceleration back there but he's not going anywhere. 

Peters is heading for victory! He's not losing time; he's gaining. 1:03 now ahead of a trio of what you'd think are superior climbers. 

Masnada attacks from the second chase group, which is splitting up now. Kangert, Formolo, De Gendt, Hamilton, Brambilla are the riders in the frame there. 

Conti is dropped by Chaves and Neilands. 

3km remaining from 181km

1:09 now for Peters, and he's made this look simple. Barring disaster, it's his. 

Chaves drops Neilands but surely he can't find 1:05 in the space of just over 2.5km?

The peloton are on the climb now and Ineos lead the way. The gradients appear significant on paper but it doesn't look so tough out there. Let's see if we get any attacks from the GC contenders. 

The peloton is a fairly reduced one, at around 35 riders.

Masnada and Formolo pass Conti and catch Neilands. 

Hirt comes to the front now for Astana and notably raises the pace in the bunch.

Peters still has 1:07 on Chaves with 1.7km to go. 

Roglic, with no teammates yet again, moves himself up towards the front of the group. 

This already-reduced peloton is really thinning out now under Hirt's pressure.

Lopez dropped. Wow. Hirt's work has damaged his leader. He'll now try and pace him on. Small group now of GC riders.

Landa attacks!

Carthy follows

Nibali looks around at Roglic, forcing him to react.

1km remaining from 181km

Landa and Carthy are pursued by Roglic, with Nibali, Pozzovivo, Carapaz, Lopez, Mollema in a small group. 

Peters takes on the flatter section in the final 700 metres and then the small dip down and back up to the finishing straight. Here he comes....

Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) wins stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia

The Frenchman raises his arms in celebration but we look back down the mountain at the GC developments.

Roglic leads the chase of Landa but the Spaniard is in full flight now, dropping Carthy. 

Chaves crosses the line for second place. 

Formolo beats Neilands and Masnada to third as the breakaway remnants cross the line. 

Roglic still leading this pursuit of Landa, with Carapaz, Nibali, Pozzovivo, Lopez, Mollema sitting in. More losses in store for Sivakov, Majka etc

Lopez attacks from that group and Carapaz jumps on board.

That duo reach Carthy as Mollema tries and fails to drag them back. 

Nibali sets Pozzovivo to lead the chase. 

Carapaz hits the front in the final 700 metres and starts to sense he can put a few seconds on Nibali

Landa comes to the finish line. He finishes 4:26 down on the winner.

Carapaz and Lopez come in next at 4:38

Nibali and Roglic cross the line on 4:45, so Carapaz puts seven or eight seconds into them.

Simon Yates is next across the line with Mitchelton-Scott teammates, 5:05 down on the winner. They're followed shortly by Sivakov and Zakarin.

Top 10

That's a great win for Peters, the 25-year-old who's in his third season as a pro with AG2R. He's something of a homegrown rider for the French team. He's from Grenoble, not far from their base in the French Alps, and came through their development team. He wore the white jersey for a couple of stages earlier in the race and is having a great Giro. 

General classification after stage 17

There's the new GC then. Carapaz extends his lead over Nibali and Roglic by seven seconds.

Let's hear from the stage winner

Here's our report page, where you can find the usual write-up, photos, and results. 

Here's Roglic

Interesting to see Carapaz head off after Landa there. He jumped at the opportunity when Lopez attacked, and even came through and pushed on. While he did effectively help close the gap to his own teammate, he surely sensed, to be fair, that Nibali was not at 100 per cent and there was a chance to take some potentially valuable seconds. 

And what of Nibali, who has been the most attacking presence in this Giro? It's hard to read too much into that, but it seemed significant that he wasn't able to hold pace with Carapaz and Lopez at the end there. Is that a sign of weakness or can the Italian still hurt Carapaz in the final two mountain stages? He now needs 1:54 on the Ecuadorian - or a little less if you factor in the gains he'd expect to make in the final-day time trial. 

All the snap post-stage reaction, in one place. Here you go. 

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