Cofidis rider Damien Monier attacked on a very steep uphill three kilometers from the finish line, and no one could match his pace. He rolled across the line more than half a minute ahead of Danilo Hondo of Lampre and Steven Kruijswijk of Rabobank to win Stage 17 of the 2010 Giro d’Italia.This was Monier’s first win as a professional rider.
“We’ve always had a rider in the escape group in the past days,” Monier told Eurosport-TV. “We deserved a win today.”
Daniel Moreno of Omega Pharma-Lotto finished fourth with Steven Cummings of Team Sky behind him.
Monier’s win didn’t affect the top of the General Classification. David Arroyo kept the Maglia Rosa, with Ivan Basso 2:27 back, Richie Porte third at 2:44, and Cadel Evans fourth at 3:09.
An ‘Easy’ Stage With a Tough Finish
Stage 17 of the 2010 Giro d’Italia was an “easy” mountain stage, in that it had only one Cat 1 climb up the Passo delle Palade, plus an uphill finish. Compared to some of the stages, 173 km with only 20 km of Cat 1 climbing was a relief.
The final 70 km sloped uphill, getting steeper closer to the end, with a real kick—a 12 percent grade—in the final kilometers. But a couple of the remaining stages have true mountaintop finishes and much harder climbs. This stage was almost a rest day for riders.
A good-sized group broke free at the 30 km mark, but was caught 30 km later. Almost immediately another breakaway formed, with a lot of the same riders. This one was able to get free of the peloton by ten minutes.
With so many teams weakened by riders withdrawing, and so many tough stages both behind and ahead, no one in the peloton had much enthusiasm for riding down the break.
The best-placed rider in the break, Alexander Efimkin of AG2R, was 16 minutes behind the leader, David Arroyo, so Caisse d’Epargne didn’t bother trying to catch the break, content to save their energy and keep the gap around ten minutes, protecting their teammate’s Maglia Rosa (the pink jersey worn by the leader.)
In the breakaway, the riders worked as a team as the road rose through the final climb, waiting for a chance to attack.
With 30 km to go, the break picked up the pace a bit. With a nine-minute gap over the peloton, the break had plenty of time to play with. Attacks and defense take up time and energy, but the leading riders had enough of both.
At 29 km, Mikhail Ignatiev of Katusha made an attack, trying to open a gap before the slope got too steep. This was far too early, and he was caught 10 km later by a more serious attack from Danilo Hondo (Lampre,) Yukiya Arashiro (BBox,) and Daniel Moreno (Omega Pharma-Lotto.)
Leonardo Duque (Cofidis) and Steven Cummings (Sky) tried to bridge to the attackers, and within five km the attack was all together. Immediately Danilo Hono and Steven Kruisjwijk of Rabobank attacked, opening a big gap. Damien Monier followed.
These three opened a huge gap. Daniel Moreno and Steve Cummings tried to catch them, but couldn’t make it, getting stranded between groups.
The three leaders cooperated until the 3 km mark, when the climb was at its steepest. Damien Moreno attacked, pumping extremely hard, bobbing up and down, riding away from the others. Half a kilometer later Kruijkswijk tried to answer, but it was too late. Monier was away for the first win in his seven years as a professional cyclist.
Hondo caught the struggling Kruijkswijk before the line. It was half a minute more before the next riders arrived at the finish.
In the peloton, Liquigas pushed the pace over the final kilometers, trying to earn Ivan Basso a little time. On the final steep section, Michele Scarponi made a bid, bit Basso was right on him. The GC was essentially unaffected, though Efimikin did advance from 16th to 12th.
| 2010 Giro d’Italia General Classification—Stage 17 | |||
|
| Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | David Arroyo | Caisse d’Epargne | 73:11:38 |
| 2 | Ivan Basso | Liquigas | 2:27 |
| 3 | Richie Porte | Saxo Bank | 2:44 |
| 4 | Cadel Evans | BMC | 3:09 |
| 5 | Carlos Sastre | Cervélo | 4:41 |
| 6 | Vincenzo Nibali | Liquigas | 4:53 |
| 7 | Alexandre Vinikourov | Astana | 5:12 |
| 8 | Michele Scarponi | Andrioni | 5:24 |
|
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| Results Stage 17 2010 Giro d’Italia | |||
|
| Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | Damien Monier | Cofidis |
|
| 2. | Danilo Hondo | Lampre | +36” |
| 3 | Steven Kruijswijk | Rabobank | +39” |
| 4 | Daniel Moreno | Omega Pharma-Lotto | +1:05” |
| 5 | Steven Cummings | Team Sky | +1:18” |
| 6 | Simone Stortoni | Colnago | +1:48” |
| 7 | Alexander Efimkine | AG2R | +1:55” |
| 8 | Marco Marzano | Lampre | +1:57 |
