Giro d'Italia 2017: Stage 17

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January 1 - May 28, Tirano, Italy, Road - WorldTour

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Full live coverage of stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia, a long 219km journey from Tirano to Canazei with plenty of pitfalls. 

 

Good morning, and a warm welcome to Cyclingnews' live race centre for full coverage of stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia. To be honest, I'm still digesting the drama and controversy of yesterday's queen stage, but onwards we go and there's no pause for thought as we head straight into a stage that, though not as pivotal on paper, isn't lacking in potential for action. 

It's a nice morning in Tirano as fans greet the riders and teams. It's another early one, with 219km on the menu. The riders will roll out at 11:15 local time, so in around 20 minutes. 

Here's the leader of the race, Tom Dumoulin. That lead seemed really precarious yesterday as the Dutchman pulled over for an emergency toilet stop at the foot of the final climb (yes, really), but he fought bravely to limit his losses and keep hold of the pink jersey. 

There was plenty of controversy as Dumoulin's rivals didn't seem to wait around for him. Quintana said his Movistar team knocked off the pace, while Ilnur Zakarin attacked, and Vincenzo Nibali put his team on the front, later arguing that no one has ever waited for him before. 

We ran a Twitter poll at the time, asking whether the GC contenders should have waited for Dumoulin. We've had over 10,000 votes so far, with 62% saying they should have waited. Have your say here. 

Lots and lots of riders on the rollers and turbos this morning. The climb to Aprica starts almost immediately, and no one wants to hit it cold. 

Here's how the GC looks

Here's your last chance to catch up on yesterday's craziness, with our full stage 16 report, complete with video highlights, results and a photo gallery. 

We're off

It's set to be a frantic start to the day. This is perhaps the last big chance for a breakaway to go all the way, and there'll be no shortage of interest in getting in there. Likewise, the early climbs represent potential pitfalls for the maglia rosa. He'll have to make sure his legs are warm and his teammates are switched on - they have a really important job in this early part of the stage. 

Attacks

Three out in front

That trio has a small gap as they hit the climb of Aprica. Here's how it looks. 

Rolland, Brutt, and Mohoric have opened up a lead of more than two minutes. All calm in the peloton. 

Ok, we sort of billed this as one of those fast-and-furious, anything-can-happen, stage starts. But three men straight into the break and an easy pace in the peloton behind - it's more like a flat stage, as the gap goes out to over 4 minutes. So apologies for that...

210km remaining from 219km

The peloton isn't happy with that, and the pace is upped to snuff out the four-man group. As a result, the gap to the breakaway trio is down to 3:30

208km remaining from 219km

Here's a first shot of the break. It started promisingly for them but their fate looks a lot more uncertain at the minute. 

BMC's Manuel Senni has a dig but it's short-lived. Rolland, Brutt, and Mohoric are a couple of kilometres away from the top of the climb but their lead has been slashed to 2:30. 

Forget what I said just before and go back to what I said in the first place. Nibali's team seem keen to exert some pressure on the race now. 

204km remaining from 219km

Alexander Foliforov breaks free from the peloton to bag some remaining KOM points, along with a couple of other riders. The three out front have a lead of less than two minutes. 

Foliforov has formed a mini counter attack with Julen Amezqueta (Wilier-Selle Italia), Dario Cataldo (Astana), and Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac).

That four-man group is reeled in by the peloton. 

Thibaut Pinot lost his podium position to Vincenzo Nibali yesterday, unable to follow the Italian's attacks on the final climb. The Frenchman had seemed a good bet for the podium but he revealed he's been feeling sub-par for several days now. Here's the full story:

188km remaining from 219km

Fran Ventoso (BMC) and Daniel Teklehaimanot (Dimension Data) attack from the bunch on the gentle early gradients. 

A shot of the Bahrain-Merida-led peloton on the road to Aprica. 

It's kicking off now as we see a group of more than 20 riders ahead of the peloton. 

It's going to be hard to get a grip on who exactly is where as the 20-plus group joins Ventoso and Teklehaimanot, and is then added to by more attackers from the bunch. This is a huge group, with a small lead on the peloton. 

179km remaining from 219km

Adam Yates moved into the top 10 yesterday, but he was unable to do any damage to his rival for the white jersey, Bob Jungels. Here's our latest story on the young Orica-Scott rider. 

We're working on a full list of the riders in that 40-man chase group. It's taking a bit of time...

171km remaining from 219km

With some help from our friends at Cyclingpro, here is the composition of the second group on the road. It's a big one. 

Here's another look at the Passo del Tonale

Rolland, Brutt, and Mohoric are climbing better than the chase group, which, despite its numerical advantage, is just losing time, and is splintering on the ascent. 

158km remaining from 219km

150km remaining from 219km

The riders are all heading downhill on what is a whopping 70km descent. 

142km remaining from 219km

More on yesterday's polemics, with some clarification from the Katusha-Alpecin team. Ilnur Zakarin attacked from the group of favourites as Dumoulin was still trying to come back, and he was widely criticised for doing so. His DS Dmitry Konyshev said Zakarin wasn't aware of the Dumoulin situation and stopped his attack as soon as he was informed over race radio. Here's the story, with more reaction from some of the other protagonists. 

Brutt and Mohoric are together now at the front of the race. Rolland has been distanced. He's over a minute back, so maybe he has deliberately sat up to put himself in the bigger group behind. 

127km remaining from 219km

120km remaining from 219km

Jan Polanc is the best-placed rider on GC from the riders out in front of the peloton. He's 13th overall at 12:13. Maxime Monfort is at 14:46. 

Sunweb continue to lead the bunch as we head towards the final 100km of today's stage. This is starting to look like a truce between the GC riders, and after yesterday's exploits who can blame them. That said the final half of this stage is almost all uphill.

The wind direction is going to be key for the two men out front but at present they're holding the second group at 5'23.

It's effectively a two-up time trial for the leaders and they're extending their advantage over the main field. The second group on the road are at 5'18. 

94km remaining from 219km

The organisation in the chase group is already paying off and they've shaved almost a minute off the gap. It's down to 4'20 with 88km to go.

The two leaders hit the final categorised climb of the day. It's 'just' a third cat climb but it's going to hurt as the two up front are immediately out of the saddle.

They're already over the top of the climb and flying down the descent with the gap to the main field almost thirteen minutes. Brutt, riding with his mouth wide open, isn't holding back as we see the peloton gently roll through the feed zone.

And Brutt has cracked. Big time. He's dropped down to the little ring and he's calling for his team car. Mohoric is pressing on by himself but there's no way Brutt will come back to the front unless the UAE rider waits for him.

Bidon, and another bidon for Brutt. He's really hit the wall on this uncategorised climb. He's still got 83km to go until the finish and you really fear for him out there.

From the chase group we have another attack. It's Izagirre who has gone clear from Movistar with 81km to go. He'll be hoping for a reaction from the chase group and here comes Woods and Pozzato and Polanc. This could be a key selection as we see van Garderen also making a move. 

A hairy moment for Quintana, who flings away a bidon with such force that he throws himself off balance and topples into the roadside wall. He doesn't hit the deck but has to stop momentarily. 

Mohoric crests the climb alone, but it's not long before the road kicks uphill again, and it's largely uphill all the way to the finish. The Slovenian is losing a bit of time here, with the gap to the chasers coming down to three minutes. 

74km remaining from 219km

Brutt falls back to the chase group and is immediately dropped. Quite the meltdown. 

The pace is high in the chase group and several riders have been distanced. It's far from organised at the moment but the attacking nature of things has seen another minute clipped off Mohoric's lead. He's 2 minutes ahead now. 

Eight riders have established an advantage in what was the large chase group. They are: De Plus, Devenyns, Busato, Sutherland, Van Garderen, Van Rensburg, Rui Costa, Conti.

Michael Woods has dragged himself up to that group.

This chase group is only a minute back now.

Attacks now from the second of the chase groups. 

The situation is changing all the time here. Mohoric is still alone out front but the second group on the road has swelled to 12 riders, with Amexqueta, Roy, and Barbin joining the fray. The Cannondale riders was in fact Rolland, not Woods. 

62km remaining from 219km

60km remaining from 219km

Quick-Step come to the front of the peloton and, after an exchange of words with the pink jersey, they hit the front and raise the pace. They're clearly worried about Polanc who, as well as being a threat to the top 10 now, is also a threat to Bob Jungels' white jersey. 

Dries Devenyns gets the message that the peloton have turned on the burners, and he attacks from the lead group. A few riders follow but it's splitting up again. 

As Devenyns was attacking, the second chase group was just making contact with the back of the lead group. 

A chasing trio of Julien Bernard, Omar Fraile, and Gorka Izaguirre have just made it back to the head of the race. That gives us 25 riders out front now. 

47km remaining from 219km

The 25 riders out front

42km remaining from 219km

LottoNL-Jumbo put a man towards the front of the bunch, exchanging a turn with a Quick-Step representative. Lotto have Kruijswijk in 9th overall, but in the virtual GC - as it stands at this very moment - he's down to 11th due to the presence of Polanc and Monfort up front. 

39km remaining from 219km

The second ascent of the Stelvio saw some controversy yesterday but the first ascent gave us a more light-hearted story. A cafe was offering 100 beers to the heaviest rider over the top of the highest points in this year's Giro, and Lotto Soudal's Lars Bak, weighing in at 80kg, took them home. 

35km remaining from 219km

31km remaining from 219km

Three Quick-Steps and two LottoNL-Jumbo's continue to trade turns in the bunch, and Dumoulin and his Sunweb henchmen are perfectly happy about that. The gap is coming down, though not that quickly. 9:45 now with 28km to race. 

Fernando Gaviria, resplendent in the maglia ciclamino, does a turn on the front of the peloton. The Colombian has had an extraordinary debut Grand Tour and while there might be no more sprint opportunities for him, he wants to go all the way to Milan and is happy to repay some of the work his teammates had done to tee up his four victories. 

23km remaining from 219km

Mohoric is a machine. After all the work he's done today, he's still drilling it on the front of the lead group. 

But UAE are losing time. It's down to 8:30 with 20km to go. 

A reminder of the GC. Polanc needs five minutes to infiltrate the top 10.

17km remaining from 219km

Attack from Fraile. The endgame has begun...

Enrico Barbin is the next to try his luck. Rolland goes after him. 

Conti and Bernard also respond, and the rest of the riders, lined out, start to come back. 

There's a détente, now, but the attacks will come again. And it's Conti now. Again, Rolland responds. 

Another re-grouping but now Izaguirre is on the move. Fraile follows, as do the rest of them. Conti goes again now. 

Everyone looks around as the young Italian slips up the road. Who's going to respond?

13km remaining from 219km

It's Sutherland chasing down Conti. Busato is there with him and now Woods is coming over. Bernard wants in, too. 

Others come back to the chasers now, but several have been distanced. 

Van Garderen, Costa, Izaguirre make it up there as Conti is caught. That gives us seven out front. For now...

11km remaining from 219km

Meanwhile the peloton have reduced the gap to 6:45.

A brief injection of pace is followed by a lull. That gives the dropped riders a chance to make it back, and Quick-Step lead the chase, having missed out. 

Conti attacks as the second group comes back, but it's short-lived. Busato is the next to go and drags five with him. 

The attacks are coming thick and fast as the group comes back together and then gets blown apart all over again. Devenyns tries his luck.

Rolland goes now. Could this be the Frenchman's day?

The Cannondale-Drapac man has a decent gap here and he gives it full gas. Who's going to take responsibility for the chase? It probably should be the teams with more than one. 

6km remaining from 219km

Van Garderen is forced to the front of the chase group but he doesn't want to do too much. Rolland's teammate, Woods, is sitting second wheel, doing his best to prevent an organised chase. 

5km remaining from 219km

The chase group continues to thin. There are now 14 riders in there. 

4km remaining from 219km

No one wants to take this on and potentially drag someone else to the line. Van Garderen does another mini turn, as does Costa, but they're all looking at each other...

3km remaining from 219km

Rolland hasn't won a race in two years. Cannondale-Drapac haven't won a Grand Tour stage in two years. This would be a big win. 

2km remaining from 219km

2km remaining from 219km

De Plus continues to lead the chase, but it's too late. 

1km remaining from 219km

Rolland grimaces as he continues to give it everything in the final 600m. 

Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac) wins stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia

The Frenchman sits up, beaming, puts his hands on his head in disbelief, then points to the sponsors on his jersey. A fine win. 

Here comes the chase group. Costa takes the sprint for second - not that it'll mean much. 

Sutherland took third from the chase group. 

It's still calm in the peloton and they're pushing on to the finish now. It's been five minutes since Rolland crossed the line. 

The peloton comes into the final kilometre now. 6:45 is the current gap. 

And they cross the line 7:53 down on Rolland.

A first shot of our stage winner

Top 10 

It seems Polanc, who couldn't keep up with the chase group, lost over two minutes at the end there. I believe he'll jump into the top 10, but only just, slotting into 10th at the expense of Adam Yates. That would also move him into second, above Yates, in the white jersey standings. 

And here's confirmation of the new GC

Pierre Rolland speaks

Photo: @giroditalia

Eurosport grab a word with Woods before our very own Stephen Farrand has a longer chat with the Canadian for a story that you can read later today. 

"I was never worried," says the maglia rosa, Tom Dumoulin. 

Another trip to the podium and another day in pink for Dumoulin

Here's our report page. Plenty of photos in there already.

Eurosport's Laura Meseguer grabs a word with an emotional Cannondale DS, Charly Wegelius. 

Fancy taking a look at all the snap post-stage reactions in one handy place? Well, here you go:

Today was pretty inconsequential as far as the GC is concerned. I'm pretty sure I won't be saying that this time tomorrow. Here's what we have in store on stage 18. 

We'll be back right here tomorrow morning for full live coverage of stage 18 - not one to be missed! In the meantime, we'll have all the news and reaction to today's stage coming in from Italy on Cyclingnews.com. 

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