2025 Giro diTalia Stage 17

Revenge of the pink bull!

The dust is only just settling from yesterday’s epic stage, which saw Primoz Roglic abandon the race after crashing for the 907th time in this Giro, Juan Ayuso lose 14 minutes on GC and slip down the greasy pole of the GC standings and out of contention, Richard Carapaz making an explosive attack propelling him up the greasy pole of the GC standings, and the sly wily old Lancastrian fox Simon Yates test the legs of young matador Isaac del Toro for the first time. Del Toro faltered on the slopes of the final mountain and lost the lion’s share of his GC lead. He is still in pink today, but his position is very vulnerable now, he only has 26 seconds on Simon Yates and 31 seconds on Carapaz.

Here is the profile for today’s stage, which is 155km long and involves 3800m of climbing. Not as tough as yesterday but there are still two big mountains to go over, the Passo del Tonale and the famous Mortirolo, which is approached from Monno. The first 70km’s of the stage is uphill, and both big mountains have tricky descents, so it is going to by both a physically and mentally tough stage for all.

I think that today UAE Emirates have to ride very defensively around del Toro to protect his slim lead. Now that Ayuso is out of the GC race he can be employed as another domestique along with Adam Yates and Rafal Mijka, so del toro will be well protected on the climbs. Simon Yates does not have the same level of support from his Visma team, but will be able to sit on del Toro’s wheel for as long as he likes and wait for another moment of vulnerability if one comes. Two riders that everyone will have to keep an eye on are Richard Carapaz and Derek Gee. Both were let loose on the slopes yesterday and made big GC gains, Carapaz loves to attack and wear down his opponents. The sensible thing for him to do would be to reserve his energy and preserve his place in GC for now, and wait to make his move on Stage 19 or 20, but it is hard to keep your powder dry in the mountains when you have good legs and a penchant for swashbuckling attacks!

So we might see more GC action today, but it is more likely that the breakaway will be allowed to take the stage win again, while the GC teams mark each other and bide their time.

As always the day started with a breakaway forming. There ended up being nearly 40 riders up the road, interestingly four of them were from Visma Lease a Bike, who often like to place riders up the road to act as sleeper cells for their GC riders to link up with later on in the race. So perhaps Simon Yates will try to bridge across later in the day. Also Team UAE, had a rider in the breakaway; Brandon McNulty and he is only 7:43 down on GC. Interesting.

The breakaway entered the Passo del Tonale together, but by the time they reached the summit with 85km to go the groups was scattered, the slower climbers forming a second group about a minute behind. The main peloton were 3 minutes behind at this point. The first rider over the Tonale, and taking maximum KOM pointes again was none other than our old mate lucky Lorenzo Fortunato! No one can touch him in the KOM calssification now, and if he wants to Fortunato can spend the rest of this Giro in the groupetto.

80km to go, and we pick up the action with the first mountain of the day summited by the main peloton who have ridden up without any attacks. The pink jersey group are thee minutes behind the breakaway group and all riders now are descending down from the Passo del Tonale.

70km to go, the riders are still descending rapidly. Some news from Team UAE - Jay Vine has just abandoned. That is a bit of a blow for del Toro who loses a key domestique. There is an intermediate sprint coming up at Vezza d’Oglio which will be taken by the breakaway, and as soon as the descending stops the climbing starts again with the Passo del Mortirolo.

65km to go, as the breakaway prepare to go through the intermediate sprint the pink jersey group have fallen behind a bit and are now at 3:40. The intermediate is taken by Diego Ulissi but is largely ignored by the breakaway riders who press on towards the Mortirolo.

60km to go, as the breakaway riders reach the slopes of the Mortirolo the main peloton are now 4 minutes behind. At the front of the breakaway group are the three remaining Visma riders, closely followed by Lorenzo Fortunato who just can’t stay away from the front of the race! Fortunato has red race numbers on today, after being awarded the most aggressive rider from yesterday. The climb is 12km long and takes us up to 1855m elevation. Here is the proifile:

At the front of the pink jersey group, quite strangely, are UCI Pro Team; Polti VisitMalta. A bit odd to see them leading the way for the WorldTeams. Perhaps money has been exchanged?

55km to go, a casualty from the pink jersey group! Antonio Tiberi, the current white jersey (best young rider) who started the day 7th on GC is seriously flagging and going backwards. He has been dropped by the main peloton who are currently 3 minutes away from the breakaway group. Tiberi is slipping back quickly now and it looks like his time in the top 10 of this Giro has come to an end.

54km to go, and there is just over 6km to go on the Mortirolo for the breakaway group, who are still being led by team Visma Lease a Bike (with Fortunato still hovering around close to the front). All is pretty calm still in the pink jersey group, except for Tiberi who is still losing time. With all the Visma rider up the road we can tell that Simon Yates is definitely planning something today.

53km to go, Lorenzo Fortunato is getting anxious about even more KOM points at the top of the Mortirolo and has come to the front of the breakaway group to drive up the tempo. As the pace increases Danny Martinez from Red Bull Bora attacks quickly from just behind Fortunato and is now powering away up the road without anyone able to follow.

51km to go, Chris Harper from Jayco has decided to join Martinez at the very front of the race, and the two rides dangle about 5 seconds in front of the breakaway with just over 3km’s of climbing left to go on the Mortirolo. The final 3kms of this climb are very steep and the gradient goes over 16%. The pink jersey group remain 3 minutes behind.

50km to go, the two men at the front of the breakaway have been reeled in, and now we reach the steepest section of the Mortirolo. Riders are out of the saddle and extremely bony arses are swaying from side to side. The famous switch backs are up ahead and are packed with spectators.

Back at the pink jersey group UAE’s bribe money for Polti VisitMalta has run out and now they are at the front of the race themselves pacing del Toro.

49km to go, the gradient has just hit 16% and the breakaway are riding through thick crowds of flag waving fans. Romain Bardet is on a great day and is pushing forward hoping to bag a stage win perhaps on his final ever Grand Tour.

48km to go and there is action in the pink jersey group! Pellizzari is attacking with Richard Carapaz and del Toro is now at the back of the group hanging on! Carapaz is right at the front of this groups of GC favourites who have just hit the switchbacks and are among the crowds. Carapaz leaps ahead again with such power that no one can follow him. He has the ability to burst away and maintain his speed. As the gradient kick up Carapaz attacks it back with equal ferocity!

As all that was going on Afonso Eulio is the first rider to the top of the Mortirolo, and Fortuanto goes over second.

46km to go, now Simon Yates has woken up and is trying to shake Isaac del Toro who has to really work hard to stick to Yate’s wheel.

45km to go, and Carapaz is descending swiftly down the Mortirolo overtaking stragglers from the breakaway. Isaac del Toro and Simon Yates are still together. There is a long descent ahead now.

33km to go, and the breakaway riders are climbing again, there is about 25km of climbing up to the cat 3 Le Motte summit. The pink jersey groups are still zipping down the Mortirolo. Richard Carapaz is in a group of three riders still ahead but only by 23 seconds now. Del Toro has recovered his space and is at the front of the peloton driving the chase to bring Carapaz back, and keep his pink jersey for another day.

30km to go, Giulio Pellizzari has joined the Carapaz group which has five riders in it now. Pellizzari moved up 9 places in the GC yesterday and is looking extremely strong again now. Up ahead of the race, the breakaway riders are just over 2 minutes clear of the pink jersey group, Fortunato is still leading the way. There is the Red Bull intermediate sprint coming up in 4km but the breakaway will take all the bonus seconds again, rendering it moot.

28km to go, the pink jersey group are still in pursuit of Carapaz. Del Toro is lookig very strong at the moment and has Adam Yates and Rafal Mijka with him for protection. Two of the Visma riders who were in the earlier breakaway have dropped back to assist Simon Yates, so both del Toro and Yates are equally matched.

27km to go, and after some very strong riding by the pink jersey group, Richard Carapaz and Giulio Pellizzari have been caught. Has Carapaz used up all his matches too early in the stage?

25km to go, the breakaway riders pas through the Red Bull sprint, which has really been a bit of a damp squib in this Giro. They always seemed to be positioned at the wrong place in the stage for any of the GC riders to benefit. Perhaps next time they should place them earlier on in each stage?

22km to go. The riders are heading past an amazing construction in the mountains which looks like a long series of waterfalls, as I try to Google it Tom Pidcock annoyingly attacks and distracts me. The attack goes nowhere.

20km to go, we have two groups on the road now, the breakaway and the main peloton containing the pink jersey and all the main GC rivals. The breakaway are 1:30 ahead and could still be caught depending on how the pink jersey decide to ride.

17km to go and the gap has already started to come down. The peloton are only 1:10 behind now with their pace increasing. The peloton are riding in a long stretched out line in hot pursuit.

16km to go, we are 4km away from the final climb up to Le Motte.

15km to go and the gap is tumbling down now, the peloton are less than a minute behind now, as Damien Howson from Q36.5 drives the pace on the front. The scenery in this part of the world is just stunning, but the riders don’t have time to take it in, and I don’t have time to write about it! We are heading through a little town now and there are pink balloons everywhere, the pink goes very well with the dark grey tarmac and green tree tops.

13km to go, the peloton are only 30 seconds behind the breakaway now, UAE are right at the front with Simon Yates nearby. Del Toro is positioned in the middle of the bunch. Tom Pidcock is twitching and may well be about to launch another attack.

12km to go and the breakaway begin a the short climb of Le Motte. It is just under 3km long but quite steep. The pink jersey group are only 23 seconds behind now and must surely catch them before the finish line. Once they hit the climb UAE place three riders right at the front in front of del Toro.

11km to go, the breakaway are stuggling on the steep gradient of Le Motte and the group of 7 riders splits in two. (not equally of course). From the leading breakaway group Romain Bardet attacks and tries to go solo for the summit.

10km to go and Pelizzari has come to the front of the peloton and is trying to get away from the UAE riders, but del Toro sticks to his wheel.

Bardet is really going from it up at the front of the race and has about 10 seconds on his rivals. Mattia Cattaneo tries to follow and trails about 5 seconds behind Bardet.

9km to go, Bernal, Pidcock and McNutly have been dropped by the peloton who are only 17 seconds away from the breakaway. Del Toro continues to look strong, and just as I typed that he’s only gone and attacked and has dropped Simon Yates! Carapaz is the only rider who has managed to follow del Toro and the pair are making their way past the breakaway riders in pursuit of lone leader Romain Bardet!

7km to go, del Toro and Carapaz are over the last climb and descending fast in the chase of Romain Bardet. Isaac del Toro is looking just as strong as he did on the Strade Bianche stage when he beat Van Aert for the win in Sienna! Carapaz is holding del Toro’s wheel but can’t do much more.

5km to go, del Toro has caught Bardet, and together with Carapaz the three riders prepare to battle it out for the stage win. I think that Simon Yates is about 10 seconds back and may lose his 2nd position on GC to Carapaz today.

3.5km to go, Carapaz is leading the trio towards the final km’s of the stage which are largely downhill. Behind them are 7 riders who are trying to keep up. Simon Yates is in this trailing group but doesn’t have any team mates with him. Ironic as half the Visma team started the day in the breakaway!

2km to go and Isaac del Torro has attacked Carapaz and Bardet and is surging ahead for a stunning solo win!

1km to go, del Toro flies under the flamme rouge and is going to win this stage in style and with a great show of strength! He takes the final barrier-ed meters with extreme smoothness and crosses the line with a classy bow! Bardet gets second followed by Carapaz and then Simon Yates comes charging along desperately to take 4th place. Yates is 15 seconds down and has missed out on the bonus seconds.

What a thrilling end to this stage! Del Toro had many doubters after losing so much time yesterday, but he has come back to day looking stronger than ever! Here are the results of the stage:

1. Isaac del Toro

2. Romain Bardet (4 sec)

3. Richard Carapaz (4 sec)

4. Simon Yates (15 sec)

5. Giulio Pellizzari (16 sec)

6. Derek Gee (16 sec)

7. Damiano Caruso (16 sec)

8. Einer Rubio (16 sec)

9. Max Poole (16 sec)

10. Afonso Eulalio (16 sec)

And now lets see what that means for the GC standings:

1. Isaac del Toro

2. Richard Carapaz (41 sec)

3. Simon Yates (51 sec)

4. Derek Gee (1:57)

5. Damiano Caruso (3:06)

6. Egan Bernal (4:43)

7. Guilio Pellizzari (5:02)

8. Einer Rubio (6:09)

9. Adam Yates (7:45)

10. Michael Storer (7:46)

So Carapaz and Simon Yates have swapped places, and del Torro has extended his lead. Tomorrow’s stage is flat for the last 40km so doesn’t look like there will be much GC action. That leaves only two stages for this Giro to be decided, and as it stands it is still very much open. Anyone in the top three could end up winning, so buckle up for a thrilling weekend!

Thank again for reading, and if you like this Substack please consider subscribing, you will get my race report delivered straight into your inbox completely free of charge.

PS, I was waiting for Juan Ayuso to finish the race before I posted, and he’s just come in in 141st place, 35:45 down.