2017 Giro d’Italia: Stage 18 Results

Tejay van Garderen claimed his maiden Grand Tour stage win in a strong display of strength and determination to win stage 18 of the 2017 Giro d’Italia in a head to head battle with Mikel Landa (Team Sky).

At just 137km with five categorized climbs, including the uphill finish, stage 18 was a tough battle from kilometer 0.

Joey Rosskopf formed part of the early four-rider breakaway in the opening ten kilometers, but was soon joined by a chase group featuring van Garderen. The junction of the two groups created a group of 17 riders that gained more than two minutes on the Maglia Rosa group.

The race situation stabilized as the breakaway tackled climb after climb and as van Garderen’s group reached the summit of Passo Valparola with 79km to go, the gap remained at two minutes.

Behind, the Maglia Rosa group picked up the chase as race leader Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) started to attack each other which eventually brought the group within 30 seconds of the van Garderen breakaway.

Riders began to drop from the front group and it was just van Garderen, Landa, Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team) and Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice in the lead with 25km to go.

As they reached the banner 10km before the line it was van Garderen and Landa powering on towards the finish line with a margin of 25 seconds on the chasers and 55 seconds on the Maglia Rosa group.

The General Contenders began to attack each other behind which was to the advantage of van Garderen and Landa who held on to their advantage in the final kilometers. The duo began to look at each other in the final kilometer of racing but it was van Garderen who had the power to edge Landa out of the win in Oristei.

“It was a hard day. Lots of climbing. I knew all of the climbs,” said Van Garderen. “I have done training camps in this area quite often. It was just an amazing feeling. Landa and I got away on a descent right before the finish. We looked around and saw that it was just us and we decided to keep going.”

“Mikel Landa is a very good bike rider,” Van Garderen said after the stage. “He is a very quick sprinter and I think it got a little bit tactical at the end and I tried to just be patient and not get overly excited. Coming into the last corner, I knew it was downhill and you had to hit it in the first position. I was coming in on the inside and he was going to close on me a little bit so I just thought, ‘I’m not braking’. If we crashed, we crashed but I wasn’t going to brake.

“I love the Giro d’Italia. At the beginning of my career I used to live in Lucca, in Tuscany, and for several years, I have done altitude camps just up the road and stayed at a hotel with a lovely family who I now know very well. So, this area in particular feels like home to me. I knew every inch of the road today. Italy is very beautiful, the people are passionate and positive. I’m surprised it has taken me this long to do the Giro d’Italia and certainly I will be back,” he concluded.

Dumoulin Keeps Rivals at Bay:

Despite numerous attempts, no general classification contender could shake the Maglia Rosa from the shoulders of Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin after a demanding day in the Dolomites.

As a breakaway vanquished, it came down to the group of general classification contenders to fight it out on the last climb of the day. Although many tried, no attack was able to go clear and the day ended with Dumoulin leading the favourites over the line to take 9th on the stage with no time losses. Dumoulin holds a 31 second lead over his closest rival after stage 18.

After the stage Dumoulin said: “I felt really good today and I’m really happy that I didn’t loose any time. When the attacks came I just kept my cool, rode my own climb things came back together. I also tried my luck on the approach to the finish but nothing stuck and in the end I rolled across the line with the other favourites. I’m glad to have survived another day and look forward to tomorrow.”

Team Sunweb coach Aike Visbeek (NED) added: “Today was a really hard day, especially after another tough day yesterday. The guys fought really hard to put Tom in a good position and keep him there. There was a lot of pressure from the other teams but Tom stayed cool and calm and the final went well. We can look back and be proud of how we dealt with what was a tough stage.”

2017 Giro d’Italia – Stage 18 Results:

1. Tejay van Garderen (U.S. / BMC Racing) 3:54:04″
2. Mikel Landa (Spain / Team Sky) ST
3. Thibaut Pinot (France / FDJ) +8″
4. Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy / AG2R)
5. Jan Hirt (Czech Republic / CCC) +11″
6. Ilnur Zakarin (Russia / Katusha) +24″
7. Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands / LottoNL) +34″
8. Bauke Mollema (Netherlands / Trek)
9. Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands / Sunweb) +1:06″
10. Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar)

General Classification After Stage 18:

1. Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands / Sunweb) 80:00:48″
2. Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar) +31″
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Bahrain) +1:12″
4. Thibaut Pinot (France / FDJ) +1:36″
5. Ilnur Zakarin (Russia / Katusha) +1:58″
6. Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy / AG2R) +2:07″
7. Bauke Mollema (Netherlands / Trek) +3:17″
8. Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands / LottoNL) +5:48″
9. Adam Yates (Britain / Orica) +7:06″
10. Bob Jungels (Luxembourg / Quick-Step) +7:34″