Daniel Martin has won Giro d'Italia stage 17!
It was another winning breakaway on Stage 17 as Dan Martin, a member of the 19-man front group, fended off the return of Joao Almeida and Simon Yates who attacked from the peloton of favorites. Race leader Egan Bernal suffered and didn’t manage to follow the best climbers of the day but remained composed to avoid losing time on runner-up in the general classification Damiano Caruso. Hugh Carthy and Aleksandr Vlasov, 3rd and 4th respectively before the start, were the main losers in the general classification on another action-packed day of racing as Yates moved up to third overall.
STAGE RESULTS
1 – Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) – 193km in 4h54’38”, average speed 39.303 km/h
2 – João Almeida (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) at 13”
3 – Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) at 30”
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1 – Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)
2 – Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) at 2’21”
3 – Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) at 3’23”
4 – Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana – Premier Tech) at 6’03”
5 – Hugh Carthy (EF Education – Nippo) at 6’09”
JERSEYS
Maglia Rosa (pink), general classification leader, sponsored by Enel – Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)
Maglia Ciclamino (cyclamen), sprinter classification leader, sponsored by Segafredo Zanetti – Peter Sagan (Bora – Hansgrohe)
Maglia Azzurra (blue), King of the Mountains classification leader, sponsored by Banca Mediolanum – Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroen Team)
Maglia Bianca (white), young rider general classification leader, sponsored by Intimissimi Uomo – Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), worn by Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana – Premier Tech)
Quotes from Daniel Martin and Egan Bernal
First stage win at the Giro for Dan Martin who becomes the 102nd rider to have won at least one stage in each of the three Grand Tours. Two other Irish riders have done this before: Seamus Elliott and Sam Bennett.
It’s the 8th stage victory for an Irish rider at the Giro. The last one was taken by Sam Bennett on the conclusive stage in Rome in 2018. The only other Irishman who has won on an uphill finish at the Giro before was Martin Earley at Sauze d’Oulx in 1986.
9th Maglia Rosa for Egan Bernal, that’s just as many as Nairo Quintana. He’s likely to become the Colombian with the most days spent in the lead of the Giro d’Italia tomorrow.
Speaking at the press conference, the stage winner Dan Martin said: “The shake of my head when I crossed the line says that I didn’t think I was going to win. My plan was to make the breakaway today but with the very strong headwind, especially in the valley, it killed the momentum for our group. At the bottom of the climb I was not very optimistic, but I’ve been feeling very good the past week or so, so I went hard and dropped my breakaway companions on a steeper section. I did a recce of this climb after the Tour of the Alps. It’s a really aggressive climb that can provoke some good racing. I knew the steep section was coming and I also knew a few of the GC riders and others would attack in the steepest section. I was hoping to hold a good gap with 3km to go, and then go as hard as I could. In the end I paced the climb very well. I can’t believe it. I came here with the idea of winning a stage, it’s really something to have pulled it off. The Giro is a beautiful race that I haven’t managed to ride many times.”
The Maglia Rosa Egan Bernal said: “Possibly, it would have been better to recce this final climb because the last 2km weren’t extremely hard. But it’s impossible to see all the stages beforehand and I haven’t lost much time, so on a day that wasn’t my best, it went quite well. I tried to follow Yates but when I realized that I couldn’t, I looked behind to take the wheel of Caruso and tried to avoid being dropped by him too. For sure I’m not unbeatable but you see the ‘grinta’ of the riders in the difficult moments. Others were just stronger than me today. It was great to have a friend like Dani Martinez along with me. All I want is to remain focused until the end of the Giro.”
