Valgren wins Giro 17th stage, Vingegaard stays in pink / Photo: Luca Bettini - AFP
Valgren wins Giro 17th stage, Vingegaard stays in pink
Danish rider Michael Valgren won the 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday as Jonas Vingegaard continued his march to a first overall victory on the Grand Tour.
Valgren took the honours in Andalo after attacking from a small group with a kilometre remaining of the undulating 202km ride from Cassano d'Adda in which riders suffered both from punishing heat and also sudden downpours.
The 34-year-old EF Education–EasyPost rider claimed his second win of the season, with his other also coming in Italy at the Tirreno-Adriatico, celebrating with his lucky charm Pokemon.
Valgren was part of a group which pulled away from the break on the final categorised Andalo-Lever climb.
Initially he looked to be contesting the stage honours with Einer Rubio before the pair were caught by a handful of other riders in the concluding kilometres.
"I thought I'd be beaten on the sprint so I attacked. I was really tired and I was lucky that the stage wasn't 500 metres longer," said Valgren.
"I'd never won a Grand Tour stage before and I'm happy that I did it in Italy where I've had a lot of my success."
Valgren's success is something of a miracle as he has come back from a horror crash during the 2022 Route d'Occitanie when he fell into a ravine, fracturing his pelvis.
His countryman Vingegaard, who is hunting a Giro-Tour de France double this year, stays four minutes ahead of Felix Gall in the overall standings after rolling home with the peloton.
Jhonatan Narvaez won the intermediate sprint and took the points jersey from France's Paul Magnier, who wasn't part of the break and now trails the UAE rider by 12 points.
Vingegaard is likely to maintain his advantage at the top of the general classification on Thursday when the peloton takes on a hilly 171km ride between Fai delle Paganella and Piege di Soligo.
B.Karagiannis--AN-GR
