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As it happened: GC battle ignites in closing kilometres of Giro d'Italia Stage 17

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Sparks fly on the dreaded Mortirolo and beyond on a key mountains day in the third week

Giro d'Italia - Everything you need to know

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Hello and after stage 16's GC fireworks on Tuesday, welcome to what could be another action-packed day of high mountain racing in the Giro d'Italia.

Trying to sum up everything that happened on stage 16 in a few words would be complicated, but let's give it a whirl:
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) remains the leader but his advantage is severely reduced after Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) went on the attack on the last climb. Yates is now second at 26 seconds back, Carapaz at 31 seconds and others are closing in too.
- Top pre-Giro favourite  Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) crashed for a fourth time and abandoned.
- The rider considered his main pre-Giro rival, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), lost 15 minutes.
- Alessio Martinelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizané) was unlucky enough to have a major downhill crash but was luckily not too badly injured.
- XDS Astana scored Italy's first win of the Giro, ending the longest drought on stage victories for the host nation since 2017 thanks to a spectacular two-up triumph for Christian Scaroni and Lorenzo Fortunato.

So, pretty boring really.

Anyway, moving rapidly onto today's second trek through the high mountains, we've got a shorter stage (155km versus 202km for Tuesday) but potentially equally daunting series of climbs. Prime suspect is the Giro's most legendary ascents, the Passo del Mortirolo opening up the final segment of the stage and with its summit 48 kilometres from the finish (downhill this time, not like yesterday's mountain-top finish) in Bormio.

No news yet of any DNS's, with racing due to kick off in just under an hour at 1300 CET. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) was rumoured to be struggling to continue after he completed the stage but then headed to hospital by ambulance, but the team have told Cyclingnews that he's fine to start. The full quote from team sources being:
“Thymen had a crash, had some knee pain during the stage and so went for a check as a precaution. All clear and he’s fine to race.”

The good news for the 164 riders left in the 2025 Giro, relatively speaking, is that they're going up the 'easy' side of the Mortirolo. It's a mere 12.6km at 7.6%, rather than 10.8% over 12.2 km were they going up the harder side. Plus, it's not raining cats and dogs like it was at the start of stage 16.

A reminder of the different jersey wearers as the countdown to the stage 17 start continues:

General: Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

And here's a picture of Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) at the start of stage 17. Bernal struggled a bit on the last two climbs, but still finished ahead of race leader Del Toro, and is running 3:23. Whatever happens between here and Rome, the 2021 Giro winner's remarkable comeback from his 2022 life-threatening crash continues.

Riders are currently heading to the start of the neutralised section of stage 17, a 3.4 kilometre segment, running through the village of San Michele all'Adige. Anybody fancying some early lunch, the race guide recommends a risotto al Teroldego, which has Teroldego wine, onions, olive oil and vegetable stock amongst its main ingredients. Bon apetito.

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And the director's flag waves and we're off: Stage 17 of the 2025 Giro d'Italia, 155 kilometres from San Michele all’Adige - Bormio and with over 3,800 metres of vertical climbing is formally underway.

On today's menu

Lots of skirmishing with Decathlon AG2R La Mondial and Intermarché-Wanty but no clear break yet.

147 kilometres to go

Now points leader and multiple stage winner Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) is doing his best to drag a group clear.

Pedersen is brought back, yet more moves trying to make it clear. Former Paris-Roubaix winner Dylan van Baarle (Visma-Lease a Bike) has a go.

Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) are also very active and they are joined by UAE duo Jay Vine and Brandon McNulty but after 15 kilometres nothing is sticking.

Reports coming in that Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has been dropped in this fraught stage start. After his horrendously difficult stage 16, assuming it's confirmed, that's not good news.

Less than five kilometres to go to the first of three intermediate sprints, this one in the town of Cles.

Heading into the first sprint of the day and Lidl-Trek are massing at the front.

Pedersen snaps the sprint up comfortably ahead of Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), to bolster his already considerable lead in the points competition. 

The sprint done, as the bunch leaves Cles, Jayco-AIUIa give it some stick on the front to try and drag a a break clear.

A nice shot of the peloton leaving the start town of San Michele all'Adige

125 kilometres to go

Isaac del Toro bridges across to the lead group of 40 in person, sparking a response from Derek Gee.

Not clear yet why Del Toro was so keen to make it into the front group, but he's sparked a reaction from Visma-Lease a Bike for Yates, bridging across and a strung-out bunch gradually regains contact.

120 kilometres to go and we've still got about 20 kilometres til the foot of the Tonale, but still we're in the same old narrative of splits and reforming, rather than the break going clear.

Another 30 riders make a move on the slowly rising road up towards the foot of the Tonale, but to judge by the way they're looking back more than ahead, they may want more riders to come across.

112 kilometres to go

Break contains amongst others in the 37-man move: Jan Tratnik, Nico Denz and Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL), Mathias Vacek and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates); Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty), Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike), Fabio van der Bossche (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) and Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep). And it's quickly forged open a gap of two minutes on the foot of the Tonale. 

98 kilometres to go

Polti-Visit Malta pile on the pressure in the main bunch but with so many top teams ahead, it's a holding action at best.

Unsurprisingly with such a big group, mountain leader Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) tries to go clear and shake things up and Kruijswijk gets across. 

First official abandon of the day:  stage 8 winner Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlAla) 

Fortunato's dig goes nowhere, but riders also been shed at the back of the break as well.

Pedersen dropped from the break on the grinding smooth, slopes of the Tonale, as Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) and Kruijswijk briefly open a gap.

The presence of McNulty and three Visma-Lease a Bikes in the front group (Van Baarle has been dropped) is a reminder that for all the break has a three-minute advantage, this could well be a GC day.

A shot of the break

89 kilometres to go

The best placed rider in the break on GC, incidentally, is McNulty, although at 7:43, he's hardly a challenger to the other contenders for now. Beyond McNulty, the next best placed in the group is Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty) at 34:56.

Behind McNulty, Del Toro still has four teammates for company in the main pack. 

As the race comes up towards the summit of the Tonale, mountains leader Fortunato tucks himself in behind former overall leader Ulissi, preparing to hoover up some more points.

Fortunato claims maximum points on the Tonale summit. Bunch at 3:07.

Two Picnic-PostNL riders and a duo of Polti-VisitMalta riders lead the peloton over the top of the Tonale. A 25 kilometre descent on thankfully dry roads beckons.

The front group, with a 45 second on their closest pursuers, currently consists of Martinez  (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe); Huys (Arkéa - B&B Hotels);  Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious); Oldani (Cofidis); Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale); Steinhauser (EF Education - EasyPost); Geniets (Groupama - FDJ); Meintjes ( Intermarché - Wanty); Houle (Israel - Premier Tech);  Bardet (Picnic-PostNL); Vacek (Lidl - Trek); Milesi (Movistar); Howson (Q36.5);  Cattaneo (Soudal Quick-Step); Harper and Zana (both Jayco-AlUla);  Kelderman, Kruijswijk and Lemme (all Visma - Lease a Bike); Marco Brenner, Pluimers and Stork (all Tudor Pro Cycling); McNulty (UAE Team Emirates - XRG);  Fortunato and Ulissi (both XDS Astana).

Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) abandons. That's UAE's first loss of the 2025 Giro and the exit of a key team worker for Del Toro, too.

Another sprint is coming up, at Vezza d'Oglio, interestingly placed on a downhill. With Pedersen behind, not likely to make much of a impact either way.

Led by Ulissi, the break rolls through the sprint with barely a flicker of real interest. But with the Mortirolo six kilometres away, they've surely got other things on their mind.

Still to come on stage 17:

Km 107.2:  Climb: Passo del Mortirolo (Cat.1, 12.6km at 7.6%)

60 kilometres to go

Riders like Pluimers already shed at the foot of the climb from the break. 

The bunch hits the foot of the Mortirolo. Ineos, EF, Simon Yates and Del Toro all on the front.

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) is dropped. so he won't be helping teammate Simon Yates in the same way as he did on the final climb of stage 16.

Thymen Arensman, Ineos' plan B for the GC, also struggling in the bunch. On the front, Visma-Lease a Bike lead with former Giro podium finisher Kelderman.

Polti-VisitMalta's lone rider left in the bunch leads the peloton, for reasons currently known to Polti-VisitMalta and Polti-VisitMalta alone.

Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious),  eighth overall and second in the BYR classification, is already looking to be trouble.

A shot of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and the Giro d'Italia race leader earlier in the stage

7.5 kilometres left to go to the top, and the pink jersey group is already shedding huge numbers. There's only about 25 riders left.

Tiberi definitively out the back, by the way, but there are plenty of other riders going in the same direction.

Riders also going backwards from the break, too, like eight times Giro stage winner and 2025 one-day race leader Ulissi (XDS-Astana) as well as Geniets (Groupama-FDJ)

Jonathan Castroviejo rolls back the years with a driving effort on the front of the fast-shrinking bunch, in an effort for Ineos teammate Egan Bernal.

Visma still have three riders in the front group, by the way - Kruijswijk, Lemmen and Kelderman. With so many teammates ahead, will Simon Yates strike?

53 kilometres to go

Fortunato's attack fizzles out and 2024 Giro runner-up Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) launches a much more concerted move

Martínez' move is working out well. In the space of a couple of hundred metres he's got at least 20 seconds.

Four kilometres from the top of the Mortirolo, Martínez is joined by Chris Harper (Jayco-AlAla).

Harper drives on, but at least five riders are now sitting on his back wheel.

After the initial shedding of outsiders like Tiberi and Arensman, there's a holding action in the 25-strong bunch right now. Headed by Arrieta for race leader Isaac del Toro, with UAE  teammates Adam Yates and Majka just behind, the peloton is still at 3:19.

Dry if a relatively fresh 13 degrees on the summit of the Mortirolo, although there are reports of rain at the finish. Cattaneo leads the front break of roughly 15 riders.

All the Visma riders have been dropped from the break, incidentally, or are they waiting for Yates?

1.3 kilometres from the top Bardet, invisible up to now in the break, makes a move. Only Eulalio can follow.

A pronounced acceleration by Pellizzari and it seems like there could finally be some serious GC action.

Cepeda takes over from Pellizzari, working for Carapaz, and  Yates is towards the back of the small string of GC favourites. Del Toro, meanwhile, is right at the back. Could he crack?

Meanwhile Afonso Eulalio has dropped Bardet and with 700 metres left to go, is heading solo towards the summit of the Mortirolo.

Yet more pressure from EF, but Del Toro is right at the back, trailing Bernal. 

Attack by Carapaz, searing past Pellizzari. The GC battle is on.

Carapaz opens up a gap of some 50 metres, but there's no reaction from Yates or Del Toro, the latter simply going at his own pace.

Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious)  reaches the summit of the Mortirolo at the head of the race.

Fortunato crosses in second for yet more points, but given the short distance to the top when he attacked, Eulálio has a good gap.

Carapaz has a 300 metres gap, and behind the knives are coming out as Simon Yates pushes on, dropping Del Toro. A crunch moment of the Giro.

Carapaz zooms past breakaway Milesi and keeps on pouring on the effort. Worth remembering he's got Steinhauser ahead from the day's early move. 

Del Toro bridges across to Yates, but Carapaz is away. His margin, though, is only 14 seconds on the other two GC challengers.

Carapaz blasts past Geniets at the summit of the Mortirolo. He's only got 13 seconds on Del Toro for now, but what will happen on the descent?

Steinhauser drops back from the break to try and help Carapaz' effort

On the twisting, wooded descent, Eulálio is caught by Bardet and Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep)

It's a considerably fast, twisting descent, but Carapaz continues to push on ahead of a reinforced pink jersey group. The big question is where is Steinhauser and how much support can he provide?

33 kilometres to go

Steinhauser is caught by the Carapaz group, but the Ecuadorian shoots straight past his teammate and onto the front to keep the pace high.

Del Toro is attacking solo from the pink jersey group and trying to bridge across to Carapaz. He's joined by Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and then Simon Yates gets across as well.

Del Toro gives up trying to bridge across, while Steinhauser is burying himself for Carapaz in a six-rider group. 

25 seconds between the Carapaz group and the Del Toro/Simon Yates group.

The Carapaz group, also containing Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Pellizzari is sweeping up riders from the break, but for now it's Steinhauser doing all the work.

Adam Yates, meanwhile, is working at the front of Del Toro's group. 16 seconds the gap.

Del Toro on the descent

28 kilometres to go

UAE Team Emirates-XRG move back into a controlling position on the front of the bunch, but are quickly boosted by Q36.5's Damien Howson, working for Tom Pidcock to try and bring back the break.

As the final sprint of the day (Km 130.1 approaches) the five rider breakaway has now swelled to eight: Kelderman, Martínez, Cattaneo, Stork, Vacek, Bardet, Fortunato and Eulálio.

Cattaneo takes the Red Bull sprint, and the gap is now down to 1:40. 13 kilometres to go before the final climb of the day, the Cat.3 Le Motte.

The main bunch has now swelled to around 30 riders by the way, as Pidcock briefly pushes on. But he's quickly brought back by UAE domestique Majka.

The final Cat.3 ascent of Le Motte (Km 146.5) is officially only three kilometres long, but the ascent itself starts before on a series of false flats and grinding rises. No rain yet.

20 kilometres to go

For now the only top GC rider who's really out of contention today is Tiberi, previously eighth overall, with Michael Storer (Tudor) also reportedly in difficulties, but no clear time gap.

A further acceleration provided by Milesi for Movistar lines out the main group.

A reminder of our eight riders in the break: Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Afonsio Eulalio (Bahrain-Victorious), Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep),  Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL), Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease A Bike), Florian Stork (Tudor) and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana).

The gap is shrinking fast, and is now under a minute, though. It's going to be touch and go for the break.

UAE are pressing on as the team cars from the break are ordered to the side of the road. This could well be coming together.

Should Carapaz go for it again, incidentally, after the summit of Le Motte it's downhill all the way to the finish nine kilometres further on.

The break make onto the foot of the Cat.3 Le Motte (3km, 8.1%) just ahead of the bunch. 

Adam Yates tries to keep a controlling pace on the front as the bunch of some 15 riders hits the foot of the climb.

Del Toro has three teammates backing him, with Carapaz just behind him in fifth wheel as the gradient rises to 9%.

11 kilometres to go

Attack by Bardet two kilometres from the summit of Le Motte.

Bardet already has stages in the Vuelta a España and Tour de France, and is hunting to complete the set in his last ever Grand Tour in the Giro d'Italia.

Pellzzari accelerates and Del Toro follows him in the line of ten riders in the pink jersey group, as Bernal is dropped. 

A kilometre to the top and Bardet's only got 20 seconds on the fast-moving pink jersey group.

Einer Rubio (Movistar) moves out of the pink jersey group

Bahrain are working in an eight-strong pink jersey group, gradually sucking Rubio back in. 17 seconds for sole stage leader Bardet.

Attack by Del Toro, Carapaz follows the Mexican up the road.

No reaction from Simon Yates, second overall, or Gee. Bardet has 11 seconds on Del Toro and Carapaz. The two collaborate.

Big response by Del Toro after stage 16's defeat. Even if he's still got Carapaz on his trail, the two are putting pressure on Simon Yates.

7 kilometres to go

Yates is pushing on as hard as he can from behind Del Toro. Nobody's helping the Briton though.

Carapaz and Del Toro are closing in on Bardet, gritting his teeth as the two close in on him and power past.

Bardet closes up on the two stage leaders, Gee now chasing hard on the trio ahead, with Yates following the Canadian in a seven rider group.

Bernal, meanwhile, is a further 40 seconds adrift of the Yates group.

Race leader Del Toro has three second places in the Giro so far, but no stage wins. Today might be different though.

An eight second gap for the three stage leaders, both Del Toro and Carapaz are burying themselves. Bardet, puretly going for the day's win, is sitting on.

Now Yates has pushed on a bit. 

Del Toro attacks alone with around two kilometres to go. It's a tiny margin though.

A very technical finish as they flash under the flamme rouge.

Del Toro is still ahead on the labyrinth of corners in the last 500 metres. What a reaction to stage 16.

One last left-hander and Del Toro wins.

Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) wins stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia from San Michele all’Adige - Bormio. Simply spectacular.

Bardet take second, four seconds back, and Carapaz is third, in the same time. Time bonuses for these three, then with Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) in fourth, 15 seconds back.

And here's a first image of the stage winner and race leader

On a day when he was expected to lose time and perhaps even the pink jersey, Del Toro has in fact pushed back against his rivals, and put Carapaz back at 41 seconds, Yates at 51 seconds, Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) in fourth at 1:57. The GC battle is far from over yet, but this was a step back from the brink for Del Toro of major proportions.

Some words from the stage winner and race leader, Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): "It's incredible, everybody wants this and today I realised I will never give up. I will always stay one step in front, and I will always try it. I don't have anything to lose and today wasn't easier than yesterday but for sure I had a better mentality."

Carapaz has moved up into second place, overtaking Simon Yates, but having looked like the odds-on favourite after Tuesday, the Giro is once again facing yet another major twist in its last few chapters. UAE are still in the lead, just as they were in 2024 with Pogačar, but the whole scenario could not be more different.

Del Toro celebrates his first Grand Tour stage win and the fifth of his career. 

While Del Toro celebrates his ninth day in pink, there's heartbreak for Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL). He came painfully close to victory and with only four days of Grand Tour racing remaining, who knows if he can get back in contention again before the curtain comes down in Rome.

No changes in the secondary classifications, by the way: Del Toro remains at the top of Best Young Rider rankings, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) continues in charge of the points and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) is equally comfortably ahead in the mountains ranking. 

For a full report, results and background analysis on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia, look no further than here:

Giro d'Italia: Isaac del Toro rebounds to win stage 17

So what's next for the Giro d'Italia?

Stage 18 of the 2025 Giro d'Italia is the traditional mid-third week transitional sprinters' stage, running for 144 kilometres from Morbegno to Cesano Maderno in the northern outskirts of Milan. There's a hilly mid-race section, most notably with a Cat.2 ascent, the Parlasco at km 37.7. But with over 70 kilometres of downhill and flat between the last climb, the Cat.3 Ravellino and the finish, it's (almost certainly) one for the sprinters for sure.

That just about wraps it up for the live coverage for the Giro d'Italia stage 17, but there'll be more reports and analysis throughout the remainder of the day.

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