Isaac del Toro of UAE Team Emirates-XRG maintained his excellent form at the Giro d’Italia to win stage 17 with a perfectly timed sprint on Wednesday, the Mexican’s first stage victory helping him to extend his lead in the overall standings.
The 155km route from San Michele all’Adige to Bormio was less punishing than Tuesday’s stage 16, but featured two difficult climbs at Passo del Tonale and Passo del Mortirolo, with 3,800 metres of elevation.
Del Toro was the freshest man at the end of the final ascent and he broke away from Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) with just over two kilometres left. Bardet crossed the line three seconds after Del Toro, with Carapaz in third.
“I imagined I could win a stage with the maglia rosa,” Del Toro said. “The Giro has been very good so far. The fight for the podium is incredible. Today I realised that I will never give up. I will always try to win. I have nothing to lose.
“It wasn’t any easier today than yesterday. With the team, we expected some attacks to take place on the Mortirolo. We didn’t want to let all the GC riders go. I went across to them and I took it easy a bit. I caught them in the descent. We had made this plan with the team that I would attack on the last small climb.”
after newsletter promotion
After a string of mountainous stages, Thursday’s stage will be a largely flat 144km ride from Morbegno to Cesano Maderno.
