"We are in this Grand Tour to learn" - Attila Valter on the attack but Team Visma | Lease a Bike left without reward on stage 17 of Giro d'Italia

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have had a tough time at the 2024 Giro d'Italia. Aside from the stage win through Olav Kooij and a bright performance before his abandon from Cian Uijtdebroeks, it's been a challenging Grand Tour.

On stage 17, Hungarian National Champion, Attila Valter was on the attack for the team, getting himself into the early breakaway. Sadly though, the 25-year-old was left without reward for his efforts. “I felt good on the Passo Sella”, Valter responded afterwards to his team's official website. “Towards the end of the climb it went a bit too fast, but I was still fine in front. On the flat part after the climb, I tried to set up a counterattack, but we didn't get much space from the peloton. A little later, I was finally able to chase the leaders. Together with Conci, I managed to close more than a minute, which was quite an effort. The collaboration at the front went smoothly, but the peloton didn't let us go. Today I expected a breakaway to go until the end, but unfortunately that didn’t unfold.”

“When the peloton caught up with us, I saw that Georg Steinhauser still had some energy left,” Valter continued, one of the many left impressed by the EF Education-EasyPost stage winner's performances on the day as he took his first professional win. "He was also part of the early breakaway, so he was clearly the strongest today. My congratulations to him."

"Other than that, I am very satisfied with my climber's legs. We are in this grand tour to learn and such a fight to get into the early break is always a useful to learn from. Of course, as a rider you want to get a good result in every stage, but today I am satisfied that I was able to show my good legs and my champion's jersey again in the front of the race," he concludes. "After tomorrow's sprint stage, I see two more opportunities to try something.”