“It’s only downhill from here,” riders in the Giro d’Italia peloton must have been saying at the start of today’s stage. Wednesday’s stage 17 of Giro d’Italia was a 197-kilometer ride down from the mountains. This called for fast racing on the route from Pergine Valsugana to Caorle, located north of Venice on the Italian East coast.

Four riders accelerated from the main peloton shortly after the start of the stage. The riders were Senne Leysen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Diego Pablo Sevilla (Eolo-Kometa), and Team Corratec-Selle Italia’s ever adventurous Charlie Quarterman, not to be mistaken for Allan Quartermain. The quartet quickly built a small, but sustainable 01:30 minute lead over the peloton.

Meanwhile, Team Movistar and Bahrain-Victorious were setting a decent pace in the main peloton to keep the breakaway group within reach. The sprinter teams were obviously determined to make today’s stage an opportunity for their sprint aces to shine across the finish line. 

Jonathan Milan (Bahrain-Victorious) looked determined to increase his lead in the points competition, while Movistar’s Fernando Gaviria and Mark Cavendish (Israel-PremierTech) were hoping to take their first stage victory of this year’s Giro d’Italia – the last Giro of Cavendish’s professional cycling career.

The atmosphere in the peloton appeared relaxed and quite a few riders – such as Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) had time for jokes and laughs. Riders from the area had time for short stops to greet members of their fan clubs who had arranged for celebrations along the route.

Later, Team DSM and Astana moved to the front of the main peloton and the pace was increased. With 28 kilometers left of today’s stage, the advantage of the front quartet had been minimized to just 28 seconds. All stars were aligned for a sprint finish.

Breakaway participant Leysen was determined to fight on and launched a solo attack shortly before the rest of the front group was caught by the fiercely chasing peloton where teams were setting up their sprint trains for the final challenge across the finish line.

With five kilometers left, Leysen was swallowed by the peloton spearheaded by Ineos-Grenadiers. Astana, Bahrain-Merida and Movistar moved to the front.

Jayco-Alula moved to the front for their sprint ace Michael Matthews. DSM took over.

500 meters from the finish, Jayco-Alula launched their sprint. Matthews opened his sprint. Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) accelerated with stunning speed. Milan came fast from behind after making his move but failed to pass Dainese before the line.

Dainese won stage 17 ahead of Milan and Matthews.

Ineos-Grenadiers’ Geraint Thomas remains general classification leader ahead of Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma).

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