Alberto Dainese scores a tight sprint and Thomas keeps the pink

No news, good news. That was what happened, as expected, in a bland 17th stage of the Giro d’Italia in which, at least, there was no damage to regret for the cyclists. Practically, we were talking about a day of active rest, in which the runners would complete almost 200 km in continuous descent. The outcome could not be other than that of a massive sprint, the penultimate one we will see in this Italian round and the sixth over the total count. After victories for Jonathan Milan, Michael Matthews, Kaden Groves, Mads Pedersen and Pascal Ackermann, it was the turn of Alberto Dainese, who achieved his second partial success in the Giro after last year.

The Italian gave his country the third victory in this Corsa Pink, behind Milan and Bais, to the satisfaction of a DSM that will leave calmly after a Giro in which it has more than met its objectives. After what Andreas Leknessund was the leader for five days, now the sprinter from Abano Terme opens the record of victories for the Dutch squad in this Italian round (twelfth team to add at least one win). Dainese, by the way, avenges his disqualification in the wet stage in which Mark Cavendish, missing today, ended up on the ground due to an illegal maneuver by the Italian in full sprint Nothing to highlight compared to the men of the general, so Geraint Thomas will start this Thursday, in the first of the three stages that will decide the Giro, as pink jersey.

The runners got rid of a rain that was seen a few minutes after their departure in Pergine Valsugana, starting town. According to the weather forecasts, the wind could also animate the stage towards the equator of the same, but in any case it was expected that it would be favourable. that’s how it was difficult to break the classic escape script, neutralization and fly Four cyclists, more out of heart than faith, broke away from the early stages of the race, but the sprinter teams did not let the advantage of Senne Leysen (Alpecin), Thomas Champion (Cofidis), charlie quarterman (Corratec) and the Spanish Diego Pablo Sevilla (EOLO-KOMETA) exceeded three minutes.

Each one of them was swallowed up by the large group one by one, Leysen being the last to take out the white flag with 5 km to go. Fernando Gaviria, lonelier than one, he had to look for his life, so he wasted too much strength to recover positions and did not even get up from the saddle in the sprint. Matthews took the lead, but Dainese appeared on his right and Milan on his left. All three, in parallel, they crossed the finish line, but the photo finish revealed that the Italian was taking the cat to water by a matter of centimeters. The general will begin to define definitively from this Thursday with the end in Val di Zoldo. the truth hour has arrived.

General ranking

after cyclist	Equipment	Time
1 Alberto Dainese	DSM	4h:26:08
2 jonathan milan	TBV	+00:00
3 michael matthews	JAY	+00:00
4 Niccolo Bonifazio	ICW	+00:00
5 Simone Consonni	COF	+00:00
6 Fernando Gaviria	MOV	+00:00
7 Andrea Pasqualon	TBV	+00:00
8 alex kirsch	TFS	+00:00
9 Stefano Oldani	ADC	+00:00
10 Pascal Ackerman	UAD	+00:00

after cyclist	Equipment	Time
1 Geraint Thomas	IGD	71:58:43
2 Joao Almeida	UAD	+00:18
3 Cousin Roglic	TJV	+00:29
4 Damiano Caruso	TBV	+02:50
5 Edward Dunbar	JAY	+03:03
6 Lennard Kaemna	BOH	+03:20
7 Bruno Armirail	GFC	+03:22
8 Andreas Leknessund	DSM	+03:30
9 Thymen Arensmann	IGD	+04:09
10 Laurens de Plus	IGD	+04:32

See complete classification