Valgren's renaissance continues with breakaway masterclass on Giro stage 17

Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) claimed victory from the breakaway on stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia in Andalo.

After being part of an initial 29-rider move, Valgren found himself in a final split of six riders inside the closing kilometres, having been caught alongside Einer Rubio (Movistar) with 2.3km to go. 

Valgen withstood attacks from Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) on the final rise, and he then attacked forcefully as the road flattened just before the flamme rouge. The competition hesitated, and the Dane wasn’t to be caught. 

Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) claimed second while Caruso rounded out the stage podium in third. 

Meanwhile, there were no differences in the GC, meaning that Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) maintains the maglia rosa and moves one step closer to overall victory in Rome. 

The Dane leads Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) by 4:03, with Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) in third at 4:27.

The final week began with a summit finish for the GC contenders to get their teeth stuck into. Stage 17 was far more likely to be one for the breakaway, and this was made apparent early doors. 

Johan Jacobs (Grouapama-FDJ United), Robin Froidevaux (Tudor) and Madis Mihkels (EF Education-EasyPost) were the first trio to open an advantage, but there were too many riders also wanting to join the action, and the trio were reeled in. 

Next to go clear was a seven-man group featuring Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets), Alessandro Tonelli (Polti-VistiMalta), Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) and Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United)

The group worked well and built a strong advantage, but things refused to settle down with two chasing groups forming behind with plenty more riders bridging across. The first chasing group that made it into the final breakaway included Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), Mick van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL) and Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta).

The other riders who bridged across were, Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious), Jardi van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Enric Mas, Juanpe López and Einer Rubio (Movistar), David de la Cruz and Mark Donovan (Pinarello-Q36.5), Gianmarco Garofoli and Fabio van den Bossche (Soudal Quick-Step)  Florian Stork, Jhonatan Narváez and Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Simone Gualdi (Lotto-Intermarché), Jan Hirt (NSN), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL).

Visma shut the exit door in the peloton, taking control, with a 29-rider breakaway up the road. 

One man who wasn’t in the big group was Cavagna, and this was because the Frenchman had actually attacked solo. Cavagna built an advantage of over two minutes with around 100km to go, with Movistar the best-represented team in the chase group. 

Cavagna continued to extend his lead to over 2:30 with around 75km to go, before the heavens opened and rain began to fall. 

The uphill intermediate sprint to Roncone inside the final 60km saw De La Cruz attack from the chasers as Cavagna’s gap dwindled. The duo joined together, but with UAE pacing for Narváez behind, things came back together just a few hundred metres before the sprint. 

Narváez took the maximum twelve points, moving him back into the provisional maglia ciclamino. Ciccone followed Narváez’s effort, and Van den Bossche bridged across, leaving Movistar to chase to avoid a precarious situation. 

The Spanish team managed to quickly put the fire out, leaving the 29 riders back together in front. 

However, the group was too big and plenty of attacks rolled off the front in an attempt to make a decisive selection. With 44.5km to go, Caruso, López, Garafoli and Valgren formed a dangerous selection. Leknessund, impressively managed to bridge across while there were frantic attacks from behind. 

With just over 30km to go, Arrieta, Vlasov and Rubio managed to bridge across on a series of uncategorised drags, as did De la Cruz and Van Dijke, leaving a front group of 10, with the chasers around half a minute back. 

The gap between the two groups remained the same inside the final 20km as the road continued to rise towards the Red Bull KM, with Caruso and Rubio the main protagonists. 

The efforts of Caruso and Rubio threatened to split the group, and the latter managed to open a gap with 17km to go before Arrieta and Valgren jumped across. Just as the trio were about to be caught, Valgren and Rubio went again with 14km to go. 

Rubio, who appeared more comfortable than Valgren on the climb, took the maximum points over the final categorised climb with 10km to go, while the four chasers were still in the game, just over ten seconds behind.

Following the descent, Arrieta tried to bridge across with 3km to go, as the road began to rise towards the finish and made contact with 2.3km to go. A stall in cooperation allowed Vlasov, Leknessund and Caruso to reunite at the front with 1.8km to go. 

Caruso saw this as his opportunity to go, but couldn't shake the competition. It was Valgren who got the jump just before the flamme rouge to take an impressive victory.