Giro d'Italia 2020 Stage 17 - As it happened
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Updated 21/10/2020 at 14:47 GMT
Giro d'Italia 2020 - Ben O'Connor turned the tables on Bahrain-McLaren by holding off Hermann Pernsteiner to win Stage 17 at Madonna di Campiglio after missing out one day earlier. The Australian gave his NTT Pro Cycling team their first triumph in a Grand Tour for three years while, five minutes behind, the fight for pink fizzled out once again.
Ben O'Connor (NTT Pro Cycling) drives the breakaway during Stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia 2020
Image credit: Getty Images
Stage 17 result
Here's confirmation of Ben O'Connor's superb win for NTT. Poor Movistar: they had four men in the 19-man break but only ended up with seventh place for Villella...
Final kilometre for the GC favourites
There will be no change after another stalemate in the pink jersey battle. Majka leads out the sprint but it's Geoghegan Hart who comes through to take it. But there are no splits and so it will be as we were going into tomorrow's stage up the Stelvio. The gap was just over five minutes there.
Pernsteiner second - and almost back in the top 10
Hermann Pernsteiner came home around 30 seconds down for second place - disappointment for the Austrian, but he should make some huge leaps in the general classification.
De Gendt, meanwhile, comes home 1'10" down after kicking clear of Ilnur Zakarin to take third place.
Victory for Ben O'Connor
The NTT Pro Cycling rider punches the air and claps as he crosses the line to secure the biggest win of his career and a first Grand Tour scalp for his team in three years. If at first you don't succeed, then try and try again...
Final kilometre
Could this be the win which earns O'Connor a new contract and helps NTT out in their search for a new sponsor?
2km to go: In the bag?
Our lone leader is riding away to a superb win. His lead is up to 30 seconds now as the gradient eases. What a ride - especially after his heartbreak yesterday.
3km to go: O'Connor keeps his lead
The Australian still has 23 seconds on Pernsteiner, while De Gendt has now been joined by Zakarin. Five minutes down the mountain, it's all fizzled out. Almeida has Quick-Step teammate Masnada on the front and none of the Portuguese's rivals have any answers. Another boring stalemate in this very, very underwhelming paper-stone-scissors "fight" for pink.
5km to go: Sunweb attack!
Hindley makes the first move and he's joined by teammate Kelderman. Almeida is able to match them, with Nibali, Geoghegan Hart and Fuglsang in his wheel. They are still five minutes down but they've now knocked it off again. Majka and Pozzovivo are still there, as is Konrad, Bilbao and Masnada.
6km to go: Pernsteiner in pursuit
The stout Austrian kicks clear and drops De Gendt and Zakarin. Yesterday, O'Connor fought back to join a Bahrain-McLaren rider on the front before losing out at the finish - today, the roles are reversed. Can he hold off the chase from a Bahrain-McLaren rider to take a maiden Grand Tour stage win? He has 20 seconds to play with. De Gendt, meanwhile, has dropped Zakarin as he tries to peg Pernsteiner back.
In the fight for pink, it's the white jersey of Jai Hindley who is on the front now with Sunweb teammate Kelderman behind. Almeida is complaining about something, while Nibali and Geoghegan Hart are still there.
8km to go: O'Connor goes clear
De Gendt made the first big move to shake out the break, but it's Ben O'Connor who now rides clear with intend. The Belgian chases with Pernsteiner and Zakarin, with Dennis now wobbling a little behind. Our lone leader is 25 seconds clear of the chasing duo with the peloton now at 5'10". I say peloton - it's more of a select GC group of 15 riders...
10km to go: Ineos to the front
Back with the main pack, the Ineos Grenadiers team of Tao Geoghegan Hart have muscled in alongside Quick-Step as they begin the climb. Sunweb and Trek are also poised ahead of the climb. On the front, it's still De Gendt setting the tempo with Dennis right there - and the fast tempo has seen Villella dropped. Movistar's long wait for a win will continue. They had four men in this move, but now they have none.
11km to go: Break blow apart
Hector Carretero is first to blow, followed by his teammate Dario Cataldo. That's a blow for Movistar, who now only have Villella out ahead. De la Parte, Bouchard and Hansen have also gone backwards as De Gendt sets the tempo for the leaders.
12.5km to go: Madonna di Campiglio
The break are onto the final climb of the day, the Cat.1 Madonna di Campiglio (12.5km at 5.7%). The maximum gradient is only 9% and it eases near the top so you need to make your move early if you want to put in time on your rivals.
15km to go: De Gendt dig
The Belgian wins the second intermediate sprint to pocket three bonus seconds - as if that matters - before opening a slight gap with Victor de la Parte. But the duo are pegged back ahead of the final climb to Madonna di Campigio - where Marco Pantani began his descent into hell after adding a fourth stage win in the 1999 Giro when in pink, resulting in his expulsion two days before the race finish.
20km to go: O'Connor's chance of redemption
Australia's Ben O'Connor came second yesterday after fighting back to join Jan Tratnik with 13km to go before being outkicked by the powerful Slovenian on the ramped finale. He now has a chance of almost instant redemption here - and, it's worth noting, the 24-year-old is the only rider from this 15-man lead group who has won a race in this most strange of cycling seasons. That win came before the whole Covid-19 nightmare raised its head - at least, in Europe, that is - in stage 4 of the Etoile de Besseges in early February.
25km to go: 15 now in front
The five chasers - Bouchard, Rodriguez, De la Parte, Hansen and Frankiny - have joined the leaders to make it a 15-man group now. So, just four riders from the initial 19-man move - Guerreiro, Sepulveda, Meintjes and Ulissi - are no longer on the front. The gap is down to 6'45" thanks to a mixture of fatigue and an increase in tempo behind from the Quick-Step train.
31km to go: Dennis tags De Gendt
Thomas De Gendt opens up a small gap coming off the descent and Rohan Dennis is having nothing of that. The Australian kicks clear to bridge over, with the other leaders following suit. Meanwhile, there's a group of five chasers who are now 35 seconds behind.
38km to go: De Gendt takes the KOM points
The Belgian picks up 9pts over the summit of the climb to move into third place in the blue jersey standings on 70pts - still somewhat shy of Guerreiro's leading tally of 198 points.
De Gendt is also one of four riders in this move to have won a Giro stage before, the others being Dennis, Cataldo and Zakarin (twice). De Gendt and Dennis have wins in all three of cycling's Grand Tours, while Zakarin also has a Tour win and Cataldo a Vuelta win.
40km to go: Villella makes it 10
Chapeau, Davide - or should I say, cappello? The Italian has managed to make it three Movistar men in the front move. So we have 10 riders out ahead with a gap of 8'12" over the pack - which puts Hermann Pernsteiner into the top three in the virtual GC. The next group of escapees is 50 seconds down.
42km to go: Multiple options
Three teams have more than one card to play in this front group: Movistar, Lotto Soudal and NTT all have two riders, with Villella still riding 25 seconds down in his bid to make it three for Movistar.
Almost eight minutes down, it's Davide Ballerini who taps out tempo for Joao Almeida on the front of the Quick-Step train.
45km to go: Cat.3 Passo Durone
The leaders are onto the easiest of today's climbs, which is 10.4km long with an average gradient of 6% and a maximum gradient of 10%. De Gendt and Pernsteiner have managed to bridge over to make it nine riders out ahead. Villella, however, is 20 seconds back and struggling to make it three Movistar men in that move.
50km to go: Cataldo caught
The lone leader is swept up by the chasers just before the intermediate sprint, which is won by his Movistar teammate Hector Carretero. This seven-man move has 45 seconds on the other chasers as they continue towards the Passo Durone. Wonderful scenery, it has to be said...
Behind, it's Pernsteiner and De Gendt who are trying to bridge over, with another Movistar man, Villella. Astana's Rodriguez is just behind.
55km to go: Six chasers
NTT Pro Cycling duo Ben O'Connor and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier have joined Rohan Dennis in this move, as have Ilnur Zakarin, Hector Carretero and Harm Vanhoucke.
57km to go: Dennis forces a selection
The Australian rider from Ineos Grenadiers puts in a dig as the road rises a bit towards the intermediate sprint - and that increase in tempo has forced a shake-out in the break. Zakarin follows him but many of the other escapees have been distanced. Cataldo still has 35 seconds, with the peloton now a further six minutes back.
67km to go: 514 days and counting
... since Dario Cataldo's last win. That was in Stage 15 of the Giro last year, where outfoxed compatriot Mattia Cattaneo in Como as the duo held on from a chase group of favourites behind including Nibali, British duo Simon Yates and Hugh Carthy, and the eventual winner Richard Carapaz.
Cataldo has reached the end of the long descent and his gap is 43 seconds over the 18 other escapees, with the peloton still on the downhill from Monte Bondone with a deficit of 7'03".
76km to go: Cataldo goes clear
It was only a matter of time... Movistar roll the dice and look to take advantage of their power in numbers by sending Dario Cataldo up the road on this descent. The Italian veteran has opened up a gap over the other chasers.
86km to go: Maximum points for Guerreiro
The Portuguese goes 50pts clear of Gio Visconti on the blue jersey standings after pocketing another 40pts over the top of Monte Bondone. Guerreiro was followed by De Gendt, Dennis and then the CCC duo, De la Parte and Zakarin. With the peloton now seven minutes back, Hermann Pernsteiner is moving up into the virtual top five on GC.
88km to go: Guerreiro flexes his muscles
The break are breaking through the tree line now as they move to within 2km of the summit. Ruben Guerreiro has edged towards the front in anticipation of the KOM points. There's no snow on Monte Bondone - well, there is, but only small piles here and there - unlike on the previous climb, the Forcella Valbona - which was covered with a liberal spattering.
Many of the riders in the break are now dropping back to their team cars to pick up their jackets and arm warmers in anticipation of the cold descent.
90km to go: Dennis on the front
Australia's Rohan Dennis is on the front of the break now. It's worth remembering that Dennis was in the break - and indeed soloed clear - on the day his Ineos teammate Tao Geoghegan Hart won Stage 15 on Sunday. Could the British team be trying a similar tactic today?
The gap is 6'50" with Quick-Step behind setting a fast enough pace to deter any moves, but not to eat into the lead of the escapees. Some lovely autumnal leaves out there as the Giro, which should be in May, takes over the role of Il Lombardia, which should be in October, but this year took place in August, when the leaves were still green.
Charly Gaul on Monte Bondone
In his book, 'The Eagle of Toledo: The Life and Times of Federico Bahamontes', Alasdair Fotheringham wrote about a day that "surpassed anything seen before in terms of pain, suffering and difficulty".
That day was stage 18 of the 1956 Giro d'Italia where the Luxembourg climber Charly Gaul (who was described as having "the skin of a hippo") won a mythical stage on Monte Bondone after battling hailstorms, torrential rain and blizzards for nine hours and 242 kilometres.
Eighty-three riders started the stage and only forty-two finished, with the Spaniard Bahamontes one of those who threw in the towel. He would have moved into the maglia rosa but couldn't keep up with Fiorenzo Magni, who went on to finish third, 12 minutes down on winner Gaul, who took over the race lead.
95km to go: De Gendt setting the pace
Belgian duo Thomas De Gendt and Harm Vanhoucke have been doing a lot of the pace-setting on this climb on the front of the break, with a bit of help from Ben O'Connor. The gap is still above six minutes as they ride through the trees on this picturesque climb, with Deceuninck Quick-Step on the front of the pack.
100km to go: Gruppetto forms
The peloton has split now with a large group off the back including the maglia ciclamino Arnaud Demare and his rival Peter Sagan. It's going to be a long day here on in for them...
105km to go: Cat.1 Monte Bondone
With the gap now pushing six minutes, the 19 leaders are onto the famous climb of Monte Bondone, the so-called Mountain of Trento, which is 20.3km long at 6.8% and a maximum gradient of 15%.
The Shark spitting in the soup
Vincenzo Nibali ramped up the mind games yesterday in a bid to destabilise Sunweb duo Wilco Kelderman and Jai Hindley...
It's worth remembering that Nibali won the Giro back in 2016 after Steven Kruijswijk crashed into a snow wall on the Agnello when under pressure. He was over four minutes down on GC then, and the Italian veteran is 3'31" down on Almeida today. Dutchman Kelderman is 17 seconds down with third-placed Hindley at 2'58".
110km to go: Stelvio confirmed
We're hearing that, although there are big question marks over the Agnello for Saturday, the organisers have confirmed that the race will go up the Stelvio tomorrow. There was talk that it would be cancelled because of snow and cold weather. But it goes ahead. That won't be music to Almeida's ears: the Portuguese tyro doesn't like the really long, steep stuff, especially when it's cold. It will make holding on to his maglia rosa that bit harder. If, of course, he's still in pink come tomorrow...
115km to go: Descent complete
Amazingly, Ilnur Zakarin did not get distanced on that long downhill segment. The Russian is on the front of the break amongst the four Movistar riders, who are lurking with intent. The gap is still around the 4'45" mark for these 19 men, with Quick-Step still on the nose of the peloton behind. Next climb coming right up.
130km to go: Five minutes
That was the Giro's first ever ascent of the Forcella Valbona climb, which had quite a lot of snow piled up either side of the road - a sign of things to come... The 19-man break is on the descent with a gap pushing five minutes now.
142km to go: Guerreiro back in blue
Ruben Guerreiro of EF Pro Cycling has gone over the snow-clad summit of the Cat.1 Forcella Valbona in pole position to pocket the 40pts which puts him back in the lead of the blue jersey standings. With his rival Giovanni Visconti not present in today's break, the Portuguese should take back the jersey he conceded to the Italian on Sunday - one week after he took it following his Stage 9 win at Roccaraso.
De Gendt went over in second, Zakarin third, Dennis fourth and Pernsteiner fifth. That puts the Belgian De Gendt up to sixth in the KOM standings on 43pts - somewhat shy of Guerreiro's leading tally of 158 points. It's worth noting that Guerreiro seemed to be stuck in the big ring again near the summit - the Portuguese was really grinding up to get those points. He had the same problem yesterday and it cost him points on one of the climbs. An issue with the team's bike or components manufacturer, or a user problem?
146km to go: Four minutes
The gap continues to grow for these 19 riders. Who do I fancy for the win? Well, the break may not go the distance if the GC riders stir from their slumber behind. But if it does, and we have two races on our hands, then the experience of De Gendt in these situations will serve him well, although the Belgian breakaway specialist has been off the boil this year.
Frankiny, Meintjes and Zakarin are good climbers, as is Pernsteiner, although he's too much of a threat on GC to be allowed to win today. O'Connor (see picture below) came close yesterday so he could be a bit knackered come the pointy end. Dennis, you would think, is there for Geoghegan Hart later on, while Guerreiro's priority will be the blue jersey over a second stage win to add to his Roccaraso scalp.
That leaves the Movistar quartet. Without a win since February, Movistar are experiencing a terrible season. These four - Carretero, Cataldo, Sepulveda and Villella - can all climb on their day. Will the Spanish team use their power in numbers to set things straight at Madonna di Campiglio?
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Ben O'Connor (NTT Pro Cycling) drives the breakaway during Stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia 2020
Image credit: Getty Images
150km to go: Bouchard bridges over
The Frenchman manages to join the leaders so we now have a group of 19 riders with a gap of 2'40" on the peloton. In terms of GC, the dangerman here is Pernsteiner who is the only rider within 10 minutes of Joao Almeida's pink jersey. The Austrian is 9'53" down on the race summit, with Zakarin the next best placed, almost 31 minutes in arrears.
It's the Deceuninck Quick-Step team of the Portuguese race leader who are setting the tempo on the front. They won't want to give Pernsteiner too much of a gap, but won't be fretting just now. They'll probably be more concerned with Dennis being up there as a bridge for Geoghegan Hart.
Worth noting that Guerreiro is here, but not Visconti, whom he trails by 30 points in the KOM standings. If fact, there are no Vini Zabu-KTM riders present, so they missed a trick. Go over the top of this climb first, and Guerreiro will be back in the blue jersey.
158km to go: 18 go clear
We have a new move off the front of the peloton and it features: Harm Vanhoucke and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Oscar Rodriguez (Astana), Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-McLaren), Ilnur Zakarin and Victor de la Parte (CCC Team), Jesper Hansen (Cofidis), Ruben Guerreiro (EF Pro Cycling), Kilian Frankiny (Groupama-FDJ), Hector Carretero, Dario Cataldo, Eduardo Sepulveda and Davide Villella (all Movistar), Louis Meintjes, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier and Ben O'Connor (NTT Pro Cycling), Rohan Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers) and Diego Ulissi (UAE-Team Emirates).
There are a few riders trying to bridge over, including Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) and Geoffrey Bouchard (Ag2R-La Mondiale).
160km to go: No threat from break
The best placed rider on GC in the break is the Italian Villalla, who is nevertheless 1.15:11 down and so poses no threat to Almeida's pink jersey, nor indeed to anyone's position in the top 10 or 20. In any case, it doesn't look like this quintet will stay out long because their lead is coming down fast.
162km to go: Cat.1 Forcella Valbona
It's time to climb! The break hold a 30-second lead as they start this 21.4km climb which has an average gradient of 6.7% and a maximum tilt of 11%. It's a long grind, this one. It will be interesting to see if Deceuninck Quick-Step ride on the front behind, or if the Sunweb and Ineos teams of Almeida's main rivals try to do something.
165km to go: Five go clear
Finally, there's a bit of action. With the first climb looming, five riders have opened up a small gap on the pack: Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling), Sander Armee (Lotto Soudal), Mattia Bais (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), Dario Cataldo (Movistar) and Davide Villella (Movistar).
Agnello or no Agnello?
I questioned in passing the number of KOM points up for grabs on Saturday's stage to Sestriere. The initial plan for the 198km stage has the riders enter France via the Colle dell'Agnello before tackling the Col d'Izoard and then returning to Italy via the climb of Montgenevre before the final ascent to Sestriere. This would be a whopping 138 points for the blue jersey battle and - more to the point - a huge test in the fight for pink.
But snowfall on the Agnello, plus fears of cold temperatures elsewhere, means the organisers are exploring other pistes. In fact, according to Italian media, the stage has already been abandoned in favour of a shortened stage that will see the peloton tackle the climb to Sestriere via Pragelato twice. If true, this would transform what was the Queen Stage into a stage not even worthy of tying up a Jack's shoelaces. It would also reduce the number of KOM points on offer to a miserly 36.
All the more reason for the GC riders to try something today and tomorrow - otherwise Joao Almeida will not be troubled at all...
175km to go: No movement yet
The peloton still rides as one as they begin to edge uphill towards the foot of the first climb. Crazy for such an important stage, there are no live pictures for the first couple of hours. Hence the sporadic comments here. We will try our best to keep you updated with all the developments - but the website and channel's hands are tied if there isn't a feed available.
Remembering Marco Pantani
Today's stage finishes on the climb to Madonna di Campiglio, a summit finish synonymous with the late Marco Pantani.
Rarely is a rider's apogee the point at which their career nosedived into despair. Floyd Landis' stunning comeback win on Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France springs to mind. Days later, and a yellow jersey in Paris seemingly secured, the American's win in Morzine turned out to be unbelievable with good reason, and Landis never recovered from his subsequent doping ban.
There's also the Belgian bad boy Frank Vandenbroucke and his sizzling Liège-Bastogne-Liège victory in 1999, after which the wheels started to fall off the flamboyant tyro's wagon.
And in 1999, just months after Vandenbroucke's Doyenne destruction, the soaring Marco Pantani was the architect of his own downfall – like Icarus, flying too high and way too close to the sun.
Five million Italians tuned in on a Friday afternoon to watch the final 40 minutes of Stage 20 of the 1999 Giro d'Italia to witness the latest devastating triumph of the bald, slight man in pink. He won the stage, but at a huge and perhaps irrevocable cost...
203km to go: Stage 17 is go go go!
The race has started - and, oh look, it's that man Thomas De Gendt on the front for Lotto Soudal. What's Italian for "quelle surprise"?
Remaining riders in the neutral zone
The 138 riders left in this race have rolled out of Bassano del Grappa and are about to get this decisive stage under way... A reminder that Almeida also leads the white jersey standings, but it's the Australian Hindley who is wearing that jersey, while Arnaud Demare still has the maglia ciclamino. The Frenchman leads Peter Sagan by 37 points and given the intermediate sprint comes after the first two climbs, there's not likely to be any change there today - unless the Slovakian goes on one of his specials...
Certainly a battle for blue
If the GC riders fail to set things on fire again then we should at least see a good rivalry play out between the two riders currently in the mix for the maglia azzurra. They traded blows yesterday but ultimately Ruben Guerreiro only edged one point closer to Gio Visconti, with the Italian leading the Portuguese by 30 points. But there are 129 points available today, 148 points tomorrow and (in theory, although this may be changed) 138 points on Saturday, by which time both riders could be out of the picture and we could be talking about another contender in the blue jersey battle.
A fight for pink... finally?
It would be good to see a proper push for pink today after 16 stages of largely soporific stalemate. The three riders behind Joao Almeida in the overall standings - Sunweb teammates Wilco Kelderman and Jai Hindley, and Ineos Grenadier's Tao Geoghegan Hart - did put on a show on Sunday's stage to Piancavallo, forcing the Portuguse rider from Deceuninck Quick-Step to dig deep to retain the maglia rosa.
But, that said, we have yet to see any proper fireworks - and time is running out. Almeida stretched his lead to 17 seconds after darting clear to add another two seconds to his name yesterday - but the gaps could be more like two minutes today and tomorrow... Here's what's on the menu today.
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Giro d’Italia 2020 – Stage 17
Image credit: Eurosport
Good morning, cycling fans...
Ciao ragazzi! Welcome to live coverage of another tough day in the mountains - a 203km slog that takes in the infamous Monte Bondone and two other climbs ahead of a summit showdown at Madonna di Campiglio, where the late Marco Pantani took the last of his Giro stage wins on the eve of his disqualification while in the pink jersey two days from the finish of the 1999 race.
‘INEOS STILL TARGETING STAGE WINS BUT WILL SUPPORT TAO’S GC PUSH’ – BEN SWIFT
Ben Swift recovered from a day in the breakaway on Stage 16 by calling up Orla Chennaoui in the Eurosport studio for a chat.
The Ineos rider spoke about having fun in the breaks, and whether Tao Geoghegan Hart has the legs to challenge for the overall title.
“It was a bit of a strange day,” Swift said. “There were a lot of different scenarios that could have played out.
“The way we’ve been racing has been fun.
"Tao has shown he's got some of the best climbing legs in the peloton. We'll see how it goes and try and get in the breaks. If not we'll look after Tao as we have been doing.
“The race is going quite high the next two days so we’ll have to see what the weather’s doing. I’m about one of the only guys on the team who hasn’t got a stage win.”
HOW TO WATCH THE GIRO D'ITALIA LIVE – TV & LIVE STREAMING
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Each day Eurosport.co.uk will stream uninterrupted coverage of each stage. We will also have rolling coverage online on the website and our social channels.
And don't forget, we are bringing you daily podcasts from the Bradley Wiggins Show - check in with your podcast platform of choice each evening.
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