Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) has won Stage 17 of this year’s Giro d’Italia. The Italian took a bunch sprint to the rolling, 134-km ride from Tirano, Italy to Lugano, Switzerland, in 3:07:51. Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek) finished second, and Luka Mezgec (Giant-Alpecin) finished third. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo Bank) remains the maglia rosa.

The stage started out flat, but the road turned skyward at eight km. Before the climb, Marco Bandiera (Androni Giacattoli-Venezuela), Iljo Keisse (Etixx-Quick Step), and Chirico Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini) got clear. The peloton gave the escapees little room to breathe, and the latter’s lead maxed out at three minutes with 90 km left.

Lampre-Merida chased on behalf of Modolo. Trek and Giant-Alpecin joined the Italian squad at the front, and the margin dipped below two minutes as the field entered the last 60 km. Ten km later, the gap had narrowed to one minute, but the sprinters’ teams slowed to avoid reeling in the break too soon.

The end came with 29 km left. The three fugitives fought out the day’s last intermediate sprint, with Berlato winning ahead of Bandiera and Keisse, respectively. The trio shook hands, and the peloton engulfed them. BMC and Tinkoff-Saxo Bank took over at the front.

Patrick Gretsch (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) attacked. Darwin Atapuma (BMC) joined the pair. Hansen attacked again and left the others in his wake.

The Australian led the pair by 0:17 with 20 km left. The bunch reeled in Gretsch and Atapuma, but Hansen led by 0:20 with 15 km to go. The Giant-Alpecin-led peloton brought the hammer down and snared Hansen with 11 km remaining.

Tinkoff-Saxo Bank went to the front to keep Contador out of trouble, and Sky went to the front on behalf of points competition leader Elia Viviani. With 5.2 km left, Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin) attacked, and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) joined him. The peloton reeled them in. Luca Paolini (Katusha) had a dig, but the bunch caught him just inside of the one-km banner.

Lampre-Merida led the field into the last km. Modolo jumped early and held off Nizzolo to take his second and his team’s fourth stage win of this year’s Giro d’Italia.

The stage had a lumpy finish, and some felt that a breakaway might vie for the stage win, especially because Stage 17 was arduous. “On paper, the stage looked easy,” Modolo said, “but in reality it was hard, with a real ramp at four km to go. I looked around me on the ramp, and I saw lots of potential sprinters in difficulty. Perhaps they were more tired than me. Yesterday was very hard, but I had good legs today and it was nice and hot—the sort of day I like. Perhaps we could do with one more rider, but after months of hard work, in Max Richeze and Roberto Ferrari I have one of the best leadout trains going. I am afraid of no one.”

Contador echoed Modolo’s words about the difficulty of the stage. “In theory it was a transitional stage,” the race leader said, “but it was hard. The road went up and down, and we were riding into a headwind for most of the day. The peloton was very nervous, and it was fast, with the three-man breakaway up the road.  So far, something has happened almost every day--a crash, a puncture. I'm very happy because I got through the stage safely and arrived in Lugano, where I live, on my home roads. Yesterday was much more wearing than I would have liked, but I'm one day closer to Milan.”

In the overall, Contador leads Mikel Landa and Fabio Aru (both from Astana) by 4:02 and 4:52, respectively. Stage 17, a 170-km ride from Melide, Switzerland to Verbania, Italy, will probably not change the standings. The stage will feature one Category 1 climb, but it will summit 36 km from the finish. Will a breakaway win? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!