Isaac del Toro has retained the pink jersey in the Giro d’Italia and extended his lead over pursuer Richard Carapaz. The Mexican had a difficult day on Tuesday, but recovered on Wednesday and reached the finish line solo in Bormio.
Del Toro had broken away on La Motte, the final climb of the day. Carapaz was able to follow and seemed to be sprinting for the stage victory together with Del Toro and early breakaway rider Romain Bardet. But they had no answer to a subsequent attack by the Mexican.
Del Toro crossed the finish line solo in Bormio and achieved his first stage victory in the Giro. He is also the first Mexican stage winner in the Giro since Julio Alberto Pérez Cuapio in 2002. Bardet and Carapaz finished four seconds behind the overall leader.
Simon Yates had to concede ground to Del Toro and Carapaz. The Briton from Visma-Lease a Bike finished fourth, fifteen seconds behind. Thanks to bonifications, Del Toro has extended his lead over his closest rivals. He now leads Carapaz by 41 seconds in the standings and Yates by 51.
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Four Visma-Dutchmen in the attack
The beginning of the seventeenth stage was occasionally nervous and unclear. Even Del Toro tried, with over a hundred kilometers to go, to get a breakaway group away.
Eventually, a large breakaway group remained, including Bardet, Mads Pedersen and four Dutchmen from Visma-Lease a Bike.
Bart Lemmen, Dylan van Baarle and Steven Kruiswijk dropped out one by one, Wilco Kelderman stayed in front the longest. He would eventually finish in fifteenth place.
Carapaz and Del Toro test each other
In the group of favorites, Carapaz issued a first warning during the climb of the notorious Mortirolo. He jumped away, saw that the other classification riders could not follow and quickly gained a small lead.
The Ecuadorian then seemed to be able to get support from his teammate Georg Steinhauser, who had attacked earlier. But the pursuers worked well together and were able to catch Carapaz again.
On La Motte, Del Toro’s UAE train led the way. The pink jersey wearer himself jumped away just below the top, only Carapaz could follow him. Simon Yates had no answer. The same was true in the final kilometer for Carapaz, who, together with Bardet, was surprised by a subsequent attack by Del Toro.
The 21-year-old Mexican has four more days to defend his first place in the standings. On Friday there is a transitional stage, after which there will be serious climbing in the Alps again.