Steinhauser breaks Pogacar's monopoly in the mountains of the 2024 Giro d'Italia

First professional victory for the young German from EF Education-EasyPost, Georg Steinhauser, who took advantage of a chaotic situation by betting on a breakaway that was already considered neutralized in a stage that seemed to repeat the outcome of the past few days. Pogacar, for his part, limited himself to controlling and reducing one more day to be crowned the winner of the 2024 Giro d'Italia next Sunday in Rome.

Jan Ulrich's nephew opens his record with the Dolomitic tappone of the 2024 Giro d'Italia

The 2024 Giro d'Italia entered its seventeenth stage in the impressive Dolomites, that massif of the Alps that hides some of the most mythical peaks of cycling and always presents extremely demanding stages for the cyclist.

However, there was a certain subdued atmosphere before this stage, with a general classification that seems defined many days ago and an extremely demanding stage ahead with 159 kilometers connecting Selva di Val Gardena and the finish at the top of Passo Brocon. In between, five ascents including the mentioned finish.

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The start was no less tough, with the iconic Passo Sella, known for being one of the most typical photos of the Dolomites, where attacks followed one another in pursuit of a day in which all indications pointed to a high-caliber breakaway taking the win.

None prospered until almost at the summit Pellizzari broke away with the intention of catching the mountain points, very numerous as Passo Sella became the Cima Coppi of this edition after the elimination of the first part of yesterday's stage. Despite the high score, the mountain classification seems decided as Tadej Pogacar leads by 100 points.

Nairo Quintana also tried to grab the points decided in favor of the Italian in a tight sprint and, being there, they pushed forward along with Alaphilippe and Ghebreigzabhier, who were later joined by Frigo, Steinhauser, Storer, and Caruso coming from the peloton, forming what can be described as the breakaway of the day despite never enjoying a lead of more than 3 minutes.

After the long Passo Rolle, another of those Dolomites photos that always appear in guides and brochures with the impressive rocky spires of the Palle di San Martino, Pellizzari crowned first again. On the other side, rain and a complicated descent awaited them, with DSM pulling from behind, supposedly to secure Romain Bardet's position in the general classification.

In a strange tactic, they caught the breakaway already on the next climb, Passo Gobera, and then stopped, so shortly after, Georg Steinhauser attacked again with Ghebreigzabhier, managing to make their way both on this ascent and the next, the first of two ascents, on different sides, to Passo Brocon.

Finishing this climb, Georg Steinhauser saw the opportune moment to launch his attack and go solo in pursuit of victory in front of a passive peloton, achieving almost a 3-minute lead with the peloton at the foot of the final climb, which the German could do without too much pressure.

In fact, there would be no movements in the group of favorites. Barely a timid attack from Daniel Felipe Martínez, who not only failed to drop anyone but received a response from Tadej Pogacar, who took the lead of the group and, without attacking, just by increasing the pace a bit, went solo to further increase his generous lead in the general classification.

Stage 17 Classification

1. Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) 4h28’51’’
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +1’24’’
3. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) +1’42’’
4. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) s.t.
5. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.
6. Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) s.t.
7. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) s.t.
8. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +1’55’’
9. Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep) s.t.
10. Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 63h31’18’’
2. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +7’42’’
3. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) +8’04’’
4. Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +9’47’’
5. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +10’29’’
6. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +11’10’’
7. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) +12’42’’
8. Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) +13’33’’
9. Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlUla) +13’52’’
10. Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep) +14’44’’