Welcome back to the Giro d'Italia, where stage 17 awaits us today! After two days for the mountain goats, the sprinters will want to capitalize on their second-last opportunity in this race, before the climbers will take over again for the next three days.
You might remember that yesterday's intermediate sprint took place here in Tirano, just after the descent from Aprica. We are in Lombardy - just one kilometer away from the Swiss border. In fact, many of the village's inhabitants work in tourist resorts in the neighbor country. Or in Milan, the commercial centre of the region. Nonetheless, the place itself offers some interesting sights as well, for instance the ruins of the town fortification. These buildings were erected as the people from Grisons didn't stop attacking the city - and finally defeated it. And as we're in Valtellina, you can't leave the region without having degusted some wines, or dried meat.
Maybe not the best menu for a professional cyclist, but at least those nine riders who missed the time limit yesterday could check it out. So there will be only 179 riders tackling today's course, leading them first south-west, to Tresenda. From there will start today's only categorized climb up to Teglio (Cat. 3), with the top after 15.3km already.
From Teglio, there's the descent to Sondrio - and then almost 70 kilometers of pretty flat roads. These kilometers include the intermediate sprint in Traona, pretty much exactly after half of today's total distance. After Traona, the riders will take the west coast of the Lake Como, before arriving in Menaggio - marking the end of the flat part.
The ascent to Croce di Menaggio is uncategorized, but with only about 25 kilomters left after its top, it could still hurt some of the sprinters! We'll then have another descent to the shores of Lake Lugano - along which the peloton will finally cross the Swiss-Italian border.
Awaiting are one last short hill, the downhill to Lugano - and the flat final stretch! Having hosted the closing time trial in 1998, it isn't the first time that the Giro visits Lugano, the largest city of the Canton of Ticino. Behind Zurich an Geneva, it's the third most important financial center of Switzerland. For tourists, the city offers some monuments - churches and palaces - but mainly the beautiful nature, including lake and mountains. It doesn't come as a surprise that tourism is among the economy's main pillars...
With those hills on the closing kilometers, the sprinter teams will have to set their trains up pretty early - and they will have to work hard to keep everything under control! The hills surely are an invitation for some gutsy puncheurs to launch a late attack - let's see which scenario will finally happen!
Of course, there will be a breakaway again - and with a win ratio of 10/14 so far, they will surely fancy their chances again today! However, the bookies' favorites are still the sprinters - and without any surprise, they again see Kennaugh and Demare on top today. Appollonio joins them on the three-star list, with Eislers, Van Poppel and Afewerki one step down. Hsu, Meyer, Nizzolo and Goss conclude the list. No Contreras, no Granjel Cabrera - although they struggled less than some of those named here yesterday. We'll see if that has an impact.
It's a sunny, yet slightly cloudy day here in Lombardia. Perfect temperatures, though, and no wind - let's go!
Nych is the first to launch his attack, pursued by Dyball and Gamper.
Coppel follows little later, together with top puncheur Boswell!
And yet another duo, consisting of Greek champion Kastrantas and Sajnok. 2 kilometers left until the climb starts!
But the teams of the two strongest sprinters, represented by Edet and Madouas, aren't happy with these 7 escapees!
While the peloton is still chasing, let's take a look at the profile of the ascent to Teglio. An average gradient of 6.4% is not easy, but not really hard, either. The climb eases out on the final kilometer, but right before we'll have the steepest slopes. After yesterday's ascent of the Mortirolo, this one doesn't look scary, though.
Gamper leads the front trio into this climb. Boswell and Coppel have almost caught up with them - and will likely close this gap soon, given their puncheur skills.
Meanwhile, Sajnok and Kastrantas have been caught by the pack, which trails by a minute now.
Will someone else attack to get the KoM points on top? Of those ahead now, Boswell has the highest score so far, being one of those five 26-point-riders. With only 6 points on offer today, no-one could however endanger Roman's lead.
As we supposed, we soon have a leading group of five riders. Given that the pack already trails by more than 3 minutes now, it is very likely that nobody else will join them up front, and so we already have our Breakaway of the Day:
Boswell is clearly the strongest puncheur, and he'll surely bet on those hills on the last 25 kilometers. With his acceleration - the best of this group - he might be able to create a decisive gap. Furthermore, he's the fastest sprinter of the group - however, none of these riders really is a good sprinter, so that may be neglectable. What might have an impact, though, is that he's the weakest flat rider in this group - with most of the stage being flat, this isn't the best news for him.
On the opposite side of the scale, Nych is the strongest on the flat - which allowed him to win stage 6 ahead of the raging pack! Although he isn't very strong on the hills, his acceleration could help him keep up with the stronger puncheurs.
Coppel is the second previous stage winner in this group, as he came out on top of the stage 14 time trial. Despite his decline, he's still strong on the flat and on the hills - but his rather low acceleration might hurt him in the end!
Dyball is the best climber - which won't be very useful today, though. However, he handles the hills quite well, too - but the flat roads aren't his best friends. With a not-so-great acceleration and resistance, as well as the lowest top-speed, he might struggle getting a top result.
Finally, there's Gamper - riding for one out of only four teams who haven't claimed a single stage podium yet. While he's pretty good on the flat, he doesn't like the hills that much, and his sprint and acceleration definitely aren't top-notch, either. Physically, he's however much stronger than teammate Fedeli who used to be in the breakaways the first week.
However, it is questionable if this group will really stand a chance today - as the pack decided to let only five escapees break free. We'll see...
Boswell then is the one launching the KoM sprint, with 1.2km to go to the top. Being the strongest puncheur, can he pull it through? Dyball and Coppel are trying to follow - can they outsprint him?
Boswell was just too strong, and so we have still the same order on top as we had when the US-American attacked:
This makes Boswell move up ahead of the 26-points-group, joining Budenieks in 5th place.
Gamper and Nych didn't bother sprinting, thereby losing 43" until the top. But they come back easily on the downhill.
The peloton then took it very, very, very easy on that climb, crossing the line on top almost eight minutes later! The sprinter teams apparently wanted to make sure not to drop any of their teammates, so they can cut back the deficit at full power now!
Well, that was a good theory - but it proved quite wrong so far! With 100 kilomters to go, the breakaway enters Sondrio - with an advantage of 8'36", hence alomst one minute more than on top of the climb!
Yeah, this definitely doesn't look like chasing, rather like an easy training ride. The gap is up to nine minutes now - if the sprinters want this stage win, their teams have to start working very soon!
The front of the race has already reached the half-way point of today's stage, the intermediate sprint in Traona. Although Nych is in the Top 10 of the points standings, he doesn't care about the points and just takes the bare minimum!
Nych therefore remains in 9th position, one point behind Malecki.
Looking at the teams currently leading the peloton says it all: they don't care. At least not about the stage win. The gap has grown to 14 minutes by now - there's no way they could close that one with less than 60 kilomters to go. Well, we don't need to understand their strategic choices, do we?
The breakaway has reached Lake Como - let's just hope those dark clouds up front don't bring us rain again!
As the pack's deficit reaches 15 minutes, we suddenly see some different teams up front. We have to recall that Boswell currently is 35th in the GC - and with a 15 minute gap, he has already entered the Top 15 in the virtual GC!
Hence, Ivars, Gillett, Grossschartner, Schir and even Oliveira are working to defend the GC positions of Amador, Nesset, Talansky and Spilak!
Which also means that Dyball has temporarily stopped working up front, as his team participates in the peloton's chase.
The escapees are now leaving the shores of Lake Como, tackling the climb to Croce di Menaggio. Let's see if one of the better puncheurs already uses this climb for an attack - we saw long solos on the last two days, so 29km to go shouldn't be too much, right?
But no, the five riders stay together, well knowing that there's still a rather long flat section ahead. Nych leads them over the top, ahead of Dyball, who seems to be back to work.
The picture has completely changed in the peloton now - as we finally see the chase we expected much earlier! Sagiv, Paez, Naud and Leung are setting a high pace - and the peloton has clearly narrowed, with some riders at the tail even fighting to hang on now!
The gap has already been reduced by two minutes, leaving it at 13 minutes currently.
The pack continues to ride clearly faster than the breakaway - but with just 20 kilometers left, 11'40" is still a very comfortable lead! They are not going to lose that one, and they know it.
Cavagna and Naud lead the bunch up to Croce di Menaggio, still gaining quite a lot of time within just a few kilometers. Demare is easily staying in the first positions, while other sprinters are clearly struggling more!
And Dewulf even manages to get dropped - being the sole rider to do so today. However, he needs to lose 20 minutes on the pack to take the red lantern - which would probably see him outside the time limit given today's easy stage. So that can't be his goal today.
20 kilometers for the pack, where Team Puma - SAP are still chasing hard! However, most sprinters are still in the first third of the pack, as the hill wasn't hard and long enough to really hurt them.
With 10 kilomters to go, Gamper tries to go solo! This might be a smart move, given that the last hill is right ahead, and he's the weakest puncheur! He may not make it solo, but at least stay with the others.
But let's first see if and how they respond...
For the moment, they leave just a 15" gap, which they could close with just a short acceleration. Not an ideal situation for the Austrian, who needs to spend much more energy than his (former) companions now!
But Gamper even makes it over the hilltop, and he's still solo under the 5km arc! It's however difficult to tell whether the others just didn't want to catch him before - or if they couldn't!
Meanwhile, the pack has further reduced their deficit, as we're down to 8 minutes now!
On the final downhill, Boswell finally catches Gamper, and with 3 kilometers to go, everything is wide open! Will we get a surprise attack? Or a five-way sprint?
Nych tries to attack from the leading position - not a great idea, as the others immediately see what his intention was, and just take his wheel! 2.2 kilometers to go!
Nych and Boswell however get a small gap with 1,500 meters to go! Can Coppel, Gamper and Dyball come back?
Sure, they can! And under the Fiamma Rossa, Coppel is even about to take the lead - which seems to be a tad early!
Dyball isn't quite able to take his wheel, while Boswell and Gamper are still following Nych!
700 meters to the line, and Coppel now is in the lead! However, Dyball is about to overtake him, having now much more speed! Can he make it two in a row for Generali?
But Gamper is doing very well, too, just inches behind the Australian! Boswell has waited, and waited - and finally left Nych's wheel and has overtaken the Russian! Can Nych respond, or did he put all he had left into his rather hopeless attack?
With 500m to go, it seems to be the latter, as he's falling behind more and more!
Dyball and Gamper now both have overtaken a fading Coppel, with the Australian holding a slight advantage!
Boswell is going pretty fast, though - can he catch up with the two leaders?
No, he doesn't content himself with just catching them - he leaves them behind! Boswell is now clearly leading, ahead of Dyball and Gamper, who are in a close fight for 2nd!
Can Coppel still come back? 300 meters are left to do so!
Nych, however, seems to have just nothing more left - both previous stage winners are now outside the podium spots!
200m to the line, as Boswell is still extending his lead! He clearly capitalized on his great acceleration - and just seems to leave the others no chance!
But Dyball and Gamper definitely haven't thrown in the towel yet - nor has Coppel, who's closing in on the podium spots again!
Being still two bike lengths ahead with just 100 meters to go, Ian Boswell decides it's time to celebrate his great stage win! He failed on the hilly stages - but today, he was just one level above the rest in the end! Congratulations!
But who will take the remaining podium spots? Gamper and Dyball are still neck-and-neck, while Coppel still desperately tries to get his second podium of the race!
Whew, that was close! In the end, Patrick Gamper edges out Benjamin Dyball by an inch or so - what a great result for the young Austrian! And Generali have finally found out how to get some podium spots, making it two in a row after yesterday's win!
Jerome Coppel has to settle for the "wooden medal", while again proving that he's still competitive at 34 years!
Artem Nych definitely chose the wrong strategy on the final kilometers, leading out the others and having nothing left at the end. It's 5th place for him.
And how's the pack doing? Well, it's still the same. Team Puma - SAP have brought Demare into a great position - but Kennaugh, Afewerki, Zhao, Granjel Cabrera to just name a few are still there, too.
However, another acceleration over the top further narrows the pack, which is almost riding in single-file now! Sagiv and Arndt are leading out Demare, who is followed by Wirtgen, Kennaugh, Zhao, Afewerki, Granjel Cabrera, Contreras and Appollonio.
Behind them are mainly GC riders, while the remaining sprinters follow further back.
But suddenly, the pace significantly drops, and more and more riders are able to catch up again! Why did the Germans do all this work when they don't intend to pull through until the end?
Novikov is now leading the pack, while pretty much all sprinters are getting back into position! Shaking my head, once again...
The helpers of Kritskiy and Taaramäe are still leading, as Kennaugh launches a very early sprint, right behind Paez. Zhao and Demare don't seem to care right now, and the others aren't launching yet, either.
But under the red kite, Zhao has indeed launched - and he has already caught up with Kennaugh!
We can then see Wirtgen and Cullaigh, who are about to pass the final helpers as well, with Nizzolo (middle) and Afewerki (left) a bit further behind. Demare is sitting behind Paez and doesn't look very interested - after all the work his team did for him, that's not very professional!
As Appollonio catches up with Demare, the Frenchman thinks that it could still be worth a shot, and starts accelerating. But at least Kennaugh and Zhao will probably be out of reach!
Cullaigh is currently 3rd, slightly ahead of Nizzolo, while Afewerki has overtaken his teammate Wirtgen. And then, there are still six helpers of Kritskiy and Taaramäe somewhere in the mix, too.
Kennaugh now seems to have a slight edge over Zhao - but nothing decisive yet! Cullaigh is still 3rd, ahead of Nizzolo and Afewerki.
Demare has now caught up with Wirtgen, Appollonio being at about the same level and pulling Eislers with him.
It's still Kennaugh vs. Zhao up front, while Nizzolo and Cullaigh are closing in! Afewerki, Demare, Appollonio, Eislers is the order behind, with Hsu still behind these six sprinting non-sprinters!
Peter Kennaugh finally edges out Jingbiao Zhao and takes 6th place - it's the second time that he wins the sprint of the pack, but not the stage.
Afewerki has meanwhile overtaken Nizzolo and is fighting against Cullaigh for 8th place.
Elias Afewerki indeed has a very strong finish and takes 8th place, ahead of Gabriel Cullaigh.
Arnaud Demare has to settle for an underwhelming 10th place, after having waited for much too long to launch his sprint! Remember, he had Zhao's wheel when the Chinese launched his sprint - but Demare just let him go...
Giacomo Nizzolo then takes 11th, ahead of Ingus Eislers. And here are the remaining Top 20 spots:
13. Davide Appollonio
14. Takeaki Amezawa
15. Hsuan Ping Hsu
16. Alex Aranburu
17. Peter Pruus
18. Nikita Novikov
19. Pavel Sivakov
20. Andreas Vangstad
Meyer then is the next sprinter, taking only 21st, while the likes of Granjel Cabrera or Goss finish even further down. It was a messy sprint, but given that it was just for 6th place, some riders' motivation may not have been top-notch any more.
However, it isn't the breakaway's fault that the pack decided to be on strike for more than half of the stage - they took the opportunity they got, and one rider made the very best out of it:
Ladies and gentlemen, here's Ian Boswell! While the top puncheur wasn't as successful as he hoped to be on the hilly stages, he mastered the sprint of the breakaway group like a boss today, to get his maiden GT stage win as well! Congratulations to the second US-American stage winner in two days!
But hats off to Patrick Gamper as well! The Austrian youngster tried it with an attack with 10 kilometers to go, was caught 6km later - and still had enough punch to finish second of the stage, finally getting a podium for PCT team Lierse SK!
And Benjamin Dyball shouldn't be too disappointed with 3rd place, either - especially being the weakest sprinter of the group! After Talansky's win yesterday, it's the second podium in a row for the local team - which the Tifosi obviously love to see!
As expected, Kamil Malecki had a chilly day in the peloton - maybe even more than he would have thought. He definitely won't complain, as he receives the Maglia Rosa for the 13th time in a row, for the 14th time in total.
Only four days left - how long can he hold on to his lead? With three mountain stages in the next three days, his 3'02" lead on Rein Taaramäe and 3'30" on Timofey Kritskiy seems to be small - but he proved yesterday that he can hang on with the best of the best if they don't push like crazy!
And obviously, it's an even more comfortable situation in the U25 standings, as Kamil Malecki leads 15'50" ahead of Egan Bernal, with Tom Wirtgen in 3rd place trailing by 18'40".
His face says it all - Arnaud Demare is not amused about today's stage result. A 10th place on a sprinter stage, whose finale was furthermore almost tailor-made for him - that's not enough. It remains an open question why the sprinter teams didn't even bother working for most of the stage - we'll probably never find out.
What we know is that despite his pretty bad finish, he still got some points and extended his lead on Rein Taaramäe to 59 points. Mathieu van der Poel is still 3rd, 69 points down, while behind the Dutchman it's getting really close.
The final sprint stage will likely have a major impact on these standings - but only behind Demare, as it's hard to see how he could still lose the Maglia Ciclamino. Although he showed today that if his motivation isn't right, even he doesn't automatically get tons of points.
For Aleksandar Roman, it was kind of a rest day as well. He knew that it was unlikely he would lose the Maglia Azzurra today - and indeed, he didn't. He holds on to his 4-point advantage over Winner Anacona, with Richard Antonio Carapaz sitting in 3rd, eight points down. Only these two could theoretically overtake him on tomorrow's stage, with only one category 1 climb on the menu. But there are more climbs yet to come... This jersey is far from being secured!
Gazelle must be happy as well that they didn't have any work to do today, hence easily holding on to their lead in the team standings. 14'01" is their lead over Aegon - Peroni, while Generali have moved up to 3rd thanks to Dyball's successful breakaway. They're still 20'10" down, though.
That's it from yet another strange day of racing. It was clear very early on that the breakaway would take the win once again, with the sprinter teams pretty much refusing to work. We were hoping for another great fight of the top sprinters - what we got was a close fight among the breakaway riders. Well, we can't choose, it's the riders who make the race - let's see how they will make it tomorrow! A category 1 climb followed by a long descent to the finish line awaits us - let's check it out!
Giro d'Italia 
