2017 Giro d’Italia: Stage 13 Results

Fernando Gavaria continued his stage winning ways at the 2017 Giro d’Italia, besting BORA – hansgrohe’s Sam Bennett in a photo finish to take his fourth stage win of the race.

Bennett was originally announced as the winner of the stage, but post-race analysis showed that Gavaria pipped Bennett by mere centimeters for the win. Jasper Stuyven of the Trek – Segafredo team rounded out the podium.

Gavaria’s win was completely different than his previous ones, as he had to come from a long way back, basically kicking off his blistering turn of speed with 350 meters remaining, and flying past all his rivals next to the barriers before notching Quick-Step Floors’ 63rd Grand Tour stage win.

A tricky left-hand bend with 450 meters remaining turned the bunch sprint into a messy affair, but despite not being in the best position, Gaviria unleashed an incredible acceleration on the final straight and hit a peak power of 1478W, which resulted into a 72.8 km/h top speed.

Not only he is now the Colombian rider with the most stage wins at the Giro d’Italia, but he also became the first rider since Bernard Hinault at the 1978 Tour de France to notch four stage successes on his Grand Tour debut. Despite these fantastic achievements, Gaviria insisted on keeping his feet on the ground.

“Having this record doesn’t mean much for me. What is important is that it underlines the fact that I came well-prepared to the Giro d’Italia. At the same time, I am happy to take so many victories and have the maglia ciclamino going into the penultimate week-end of the race, especially as many Colombians, from fans to important athletes, came here to watch me. That really means a lot”, said Fernando Gaviria at the press conference.

Despite finishing a close second, Bennett was happy with second place.

“Like I said yesterday, the team did an amazing job and also today,” Bennett said after the stage. “We rode perfectly into the finish I don’t know what happened, the headwind was quite strong but I missed the victory by bike length. Gaviria came from behind and I couldn’t react anymore. I am disappointed but also happy with the second place. However, I got fourth podium results in this 100th edition at the Giro d’Italia which is really special anyway.”

Race leader Tom Dumoulin finished comfortably with the peloton to hold onto the maglia rosa for the fourth day.

“Today was once again a great job from the team,” Dumoulin said. “Looking ahead to tomorrow, things will be pretty steady during the day and then it will be full gas onto the last climb. The coming week will be more tricky but we just have to stay calm, stay sharp and hope for the best.”

Stage 13 Brief Results:

1. Fernando Gaviria (Colombia / Quick-Step) 3:47:45″
2. Sam Bennett (Ireland / BORA) ST
3. Jasper Stuyven (Belgium / Trek)
4. Roberto Ferrari (Italy / UAE Team Emirates)
5. Ryan Gibbons (South Africa / Dimension Data)
6. Ruediger Selig (Germany / BORA)
7. Sacha Modolo (Italy / UAE Team Emirates)
8. Caleb Ewan (Australia / Orica)
9. Andre Greipel (Germany / Lotto)
10. Vyacheslav Kuznetsov (Russia / Katusha)

General Classification After Stage 13:

1. Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands / Sunweb) 56:28:53″
2. Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar) +2:23″
3. Bauke Mollema (Netherlands / Trek) +2:38″
4. Thibaut Pinot (France / FDJ) +2:40″
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Bahrain) +2:47″
6. Andrey Amador (Costa Rica / Movistar) +3:05″
7. Bob Jungels (Luxembourg / Quick-Step) +3:56″
8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy / AG2R) +3:59″
9. Tanel Kangert (Estonia / Astana)
10. Ilnur Zakarin (Russia / Katusha) +4:17″