UAE Team Emirates rider Rui Costa secured his second runner-up stage finish at this year’s Giro d’Italia when he completed Stage 17 behind Pierre Rolland of Cannondale-Drapac on Wednesday.
Rolland launched the first breakaway of the day, dragging Pavel Brutt (Gazprom) and Matej Mohoric (UAE) with him for company, and when a 40-man chase group caught them in the final stages he kept his cool ahead of a fraught finish.
With less than eight kilometres remaining of the 219km stage from Tirano to Canazei, Rolland attacked solo to build a small lead that, thanks to the cat-and-mouse tactics of his fellow companions, including Costa, boosted his hopes of going all the way.
With only 2.5km remaining, their deficit had grown to a virtually unassailable 26 seconds and Rolland, gritting his teeth, went all the way to the finish.
“I missed the victory for the second time and it’s a pity because today my legs felt really good,” Costa said. “I am however very proud of the impressive team effort shown by UAE Team Emirates today.
“There were four of us in the main breakaway driving the pace of the leading group; myself, (Matej) Mohoric, (Jan) Polanc and (Valerio) Conti. Towards the end of the race there were a lot of attacks and it wasn’t possible to keep up with them all. Overall I am happy with the results.”
Polanc, who won Stage 4, is now back into the top 10 of the General Classification and second in the Maglia Bianca standings — the classification for best young rider.
“Right now my legs feel quite drained,” Polanc said. “I joined the breakaway today because it was such a big group however it proved to be hard. Everybody was playing it safe after yesterday’s dramatic stage and I really hope I didn’t overdo it today.
“Tomorrow’s stage will be a critical one as it decides what will most likely happen from then on in the Giro. I would also like to thank my teammates for helping me move into the top ten of the General Classification.”
Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) retained the race leader’s pink jersey to maintain his 31-second overall lead on Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) after the pair rolled over the finish line nearly eight minutes in arrears with the main peloton.
Their battle for the maglia rosa will move up a notch on a spectacular 18th stage in the Italian Dolomites on Thursday when Dumoulin expects to “come under attack” from Quintana and fellow Italian rival Vincenzo Nibali, third at 1min 12sec.
* Agencies
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