Giro d’Italia 2016 – Stage 17 [LAST 2 KM]

May 25, 2016
Giro d’Italia 2016 – Stage 17 [Flat stage] – Molveno – Cassano d’Adda – 196 km

The 2016 Giro d’Italia will be 99th running of the Giro d’Italia, one of cycling’s Grand Tour races. The Giro will start in Apeldoorn on 6 May with an 9.8 km (6 mi) individual time trial, and continue with two other stages in the Netherlands, both between Nijmegen and Arnhem. Then, after a rest day, there will be 18 further stages to reach the finish on 29 May. These stages are principally in Italy, although two stages take place partly in France.

It was meant to be a day for the sprinters but Roger Kluge (IAM Cycling) upset the apple cart with victory on stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia. Kluge joined a late attack from Filippo Pozzato (Wilier Triestina-Southeast) before soloing clear.

Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) won the sprint in the bunch for second place with Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) taking third. Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) finished safely within the bunch to retain his race lead.

After catching a break of six riders with just over two kilometres to go, the sprinters teams had been lining themselves up for a bunch gallop to the line. Pozatto had other ideas though and the Italian jumped clear as the race passed through the flamme rouge. It appeared that the veteran rider and former Giro d’Italia stage winner had pulled one over on the peloton as he went into the last hundred metres.

Kluge, who is targeting a medal in the omnium in Rio, used all his sprint knowledge from the track to time his run to perfection. The big German rounded Pozatto and had time to take a few more metres on him for his first ever Grand Tour stage win. Just two days after the announcement that his IAM Cycling team are set to close at the end of the season, it will be a huge boost to Kluge.

Results :

1 Roger Kluge (Ger) IAM Cycling 4:32:29
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
3 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
4 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida
5 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx-QuickStep
6 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha
7 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Lotto Soudal
8 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Cannodale Pro Cycling
9 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Willier Trestina – Southeast
10 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF

General classification after Stage 17:
1 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
2 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
5 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha
6 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff Team
7 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx – Quick-Step
8 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
9 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
10 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Dimension Data