"Just seemed to be on a par with Daniel Martinez" - Geraint Thomas unable to regain 2nd at Giro d'Italia on stage 17 summit finish

After a disappointing showing on stage 16, INEOS Grenadiers' Geraint Thomas responded strongly on stage 17 to take 4th place on the day and further cement his spot on the podium despite failing to gain back time on Daniel Martinez.

"We tried to set a good pace at the bottom and set it up to try and attack but I didn't quite have the legs to really go," the 37-year-old Welshman reflected in his post-stage interview, referring to INEOS Grenadiers tactics on the final climb of the day. "I just seemed to be on a par with Dani really and a few of the other boys. But yeah, it was a good day for the team. Everyone rode well."

In fact, the first rider to attack from the Maglia Rosa group on the final climb was Martinez. Although Thomas was quick to react, no one could match the subsequent counter-attack by Tadej Pogacar, who stretched even further clear in the general classification, with 3rd placed Thomas now over eight minutes down on the UAE Team Emirates leader.

"I was happy for it (Martinez's attack ed.), so I could maybe go over the top. But I didn't really have the legs to do that so yeah," Thomas explains. "I would have liked to have tried to go with Pog but I was already starting to feel the legs. Story of the race really, let him go off ahead and race behind... It's a shame that Pog is as good as he is," Thomas laughs.

In the end, victory on the day went to EF Education-EasyPost's Georg Steinhauser. "You could tell UAE weren't too bothered about the stage for once," Thomas reflects. "They let a nice break go, but DSM rode a real solid tempo up one of the climbs and then down. It was chaos behind and they brought that group back. So when the attacks started again, we just let riders go really."