Giro d'Italia: Santiago Buitrago wins stage 17 in gruesome mountain stage

Bahrain - Victorious have been very clear on their strength in numbers, and today have managed to see the young talent Santiago Buitrago take a very meaningful win in Lavarone after being the strongest rider from the day's breakaway at the Giro d'Italia.

The hard start to the day up the Passo del Tonale saw a very strong set of group going up the road. Very little resistance in the peloton and an uphill start meant that many of the riders who ambitioned to go for the stage win had the freedom, as INEOS let the group go and controlled the day. The group included over 20 riders, who started to attack each other as soon as the riders hit the hilly section before the two decisive climbs of the day.

Many riders had the head of the race, but the stage started to be decided after the ascent of Valico del Vetriolo. Mathieu van der Poel and Gijs Leemreize got a gap over the descent of over a minute to the chasing group, and slowly made their way up the final brutal ascent to Monterovere. Van der Poel went solo first, then Leemreize, but both were hunted down by Santiago Buitrago who came from behind and took advantage of the steep slopes.

Only in the very final meters of the climb did the Colombian manage to go solo, however when he did Leemreize did not have the legs to close the gap. Buitrago rode into a win, the second of his season, with Leemreize finishing second and Jan Hirt finished third - once again climbing up the GC benefiting from a breakaway.

As for the GC group the stage was ridden very conservatively until the final climb. Bahrain - Victorious showed some early signs of pushing the pace, and together with the work of Richie Porte in the final climb the group was decimated. Mikel Landa launched a couple of attacks, but once again Richard Carapaz and Jai Hindley responded, and the trio rode over the ascent with no differences between them. Together with Wout Poels they worked and built a gap of seconds over João Almeida who dropped from his third place.