After experiencing frustration in the 2016 race, Pierre Roland returned to the 2017 Giro d’Italia as a man on a mission. After making an early attack on Stage 17, Rolland, with the help of his teammates, set up for the final surge up the un-categorized climb into Canazei with 7km to go.
“I attacked from kilometer zero,” Rolland said. “I knew today was the day. It was very difficult. We made it up the climbs, but there was movement behind, and my sport director gave the right advice to wait for the bigger group. I tried to save my legs for the final.”
Rolland’s teammate Woods marking dangerous rivals Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and Rory Sutherland (Movistar). Rolland buried himself, and held a 20-second lead at the red kite.
“The breakaways are always hard to win, but I knew today there was the best chance,” Rolland said. “Tomorrow will be impossible, with the GC still open, and I know I will not be able to beat Nibali and Quintana.”
Dumoulin Stays In Control of Maglia Rosa
Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin (NED) retained his lead in the overall standings.
With the general classification contenders happy to give the break of 25 riders some glory, Team Sunweb was tasked with the job of controlling their advantage to ensure the Maglia Rosa stayed on the shoulders of Dumoulin. As the breakaway conquered, the efforts of Team Sunweb in the chase saw Dumoulin retain his lead in the overall by 31 seconds.
After the stage Dumoulin said: “We weren’t too worried today, we needed to chase harder than we had expected but we also knew that it was in a lot of other teams best interest to chase with us.
The team did a really good job to protect the jersey and were on the front all day chasing the break. Overall it was a good day and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.”
Team Sunweb coach Aike Visbeek (NED) added: “Today was a hard day. We tried to stay in control of the situation with the break and the guys did a good job defending the jersey. The team brought Tom to the finish safe and with as much energy reserved as possible for what is set to be a tough day tomorrow.”
2017 Giro d’Italia – Stage 17 Results:
- Pierre Rolland (France / Cannondale) 5:42:56″
- Rui Costa (Portugal / UAE Team Emirates) +24″
- Gorka Izagirre (Spain / Movistar)
- Rory Sutherland (Australia / Movistar)
- Matteo Busato (Italy / Wilier Triestina)
- Dries Devenyns (Belgium / Quick-Step)
- Felix Grossschartner (Austria / CCC)
- Omar Fraile (Spain / Dimension Data)
- Michael Woods (Canada / Cannondale)
- Julien Bernard (France / Trek)
General Classification After Stage 17:
- Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands / Sunweb) 76:05:38″
- Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar) +31″
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Bahrain) +1:12″
- Thibaut Pinot (France / FDJ) +2:38″
- Ilnur Zakarin (Russia / Katusha) +2:40″
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy / AG2R) +3:05″
- Bauke Mollema (Netherlands / Trek) +3:49″
- Bob Jungels (Luxembourg / Quick-Step) +4:35″
- Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands / LottoNL) +6:20″
- Jan Polanc (Slovenia / UAE Team Emirates) +6:33″
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