“We saved as much energy as possible" - Geraint Thomas enjoys quieter transitional day on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia

After the mountain top drama of stage 16, Geraint Thomas and his fellow general classification riders would have been very content with the quiet, rather boring, transitional day that was stage 17 of the 2023 Giro d'Italia.

“It went well today. There was a tiny bit of rain, but it was nothing compared to what we've had before. Luckily we had nice and warm conditions at the end," said the INEOS Grenadiers leader and Maglia Rosa in his post-stage interview. "The final was pretty crazy, so I'm glad we're over this."

With all of the main riders finishing safely in the bunch and on the same time, Thomas's lead over Joao Almeida and Primoz Roglic remains the same as it was after the climax of stage 16. “The sprinter teams wanted to ride and they did it at a good pace," recaps Thomas.

"We were in good shape as a team and saved as much energy as possible for the next three stages," he continues. Thomas will also celebrate his 37th birthday on Thursday and could give himself the perfect present. “That will be fun, hopefully it will be a nice day. There is still a lot of work to do before Sunday, so let's wait and see tomorrow."