BUITRAGO WINS AS LANDA MOVES ONTO PODIUM, VAN DER POEL SHINES AND CARAPAZ KEEPS PINK AT THE GIRO D’ITALIA STAGE 17.
Colombia’s Santiago Buitrago bounced back from a nasty crash to win Stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia after reeling in a leading Dutch duo of Gijs Leemreize and Mathieu van der Poel on the final climb. A successful day for his Bahrain Victorious team also saw Mikel Landa move into the podium positions despite falling a few more seconds behind pink jersey Richard Carapaz and Jai Hindley.
Tears of sadness on Sunday turned to tears of joy on Wednesday as Santiago Buitrago picked up a maiden Grand Tour stage win with a fantastic solo effort in Lavarone.
After missing out against Guilio Ciccone in Cogne, the 22-year-old Colombian bounced back three days later on an explosive Stage 17 in the Italian Alps as Bahrain-Victorious teammate Mikel Landa moved into the podium positions at the expense of Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates).
Buitrago rebounded from a crash with 80km remaining before reeling in leading Dutch duo Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma) and the indefatigable Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) on the final climb. Keeping his cool on the descent to Lavarone, Buitrago pointed to the sky as he crossed the line to take an outstanding win by 35 seconds on the impressive Leemreize, another 22-year-old Giro debutant who himself came close to victory in Genova in Stage 12.
Czech climber Jan Hirt, the Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert rider who won Tuesday’s Stage 16, took third place ahead of Britain’s Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) as the last riders from the initial 24-man break held on before the GC favourites battled tooth and nail right to the end.
A succession of attacks from Bahrain Victorious duo Landa and Wout Poels had decimated the maglia rosa group on that decisive ascent of Monterovere – most notably dropping the white jersey of Almeida.
Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) did his best to distance pink jersey rival Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) on the uphill sprint to the line but the Australian stuck to his rival’s wheel as the two came home almost three minutes in arrears – skipping past Van der Poel on the home straight, the Dutchman having led the race entering the final 10km before Leemreize and Buitrago’s comeback.
Despite falling six seconds further behind Carapaz and Hindley, Landa jumped above Almeida and into third place in the standings after the Portuguese came home over a minute back. Italian veteran Vincenzo Nibali (Astana-Qazaqstan) lost yet more time but retained his fifth place in the general classification despite the pressure from Hirt, whose role in the break saw him rise two places to seventh.
Leemreize’s disappointment for missing out on the win will be tempered by his Jumbo-Visma teammate Koen Bouwman strengthening his grip on the blue jersey. Bouwman took maximum points over the first two summits to increase his KOM tally to over twice of that of his nearest rival, Guilio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo).
