Georg Steinhauser flew to a solo victory on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia, after going alone on the penultimate climb of the day.
The EF Education-EasyPost rider came close to his maiden win on stage 15 in Livigno, but was caught - as so many others have been - by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). Three days later, the young German took a statement win.
The 22-year-old was part of the day's break, which was caught by the peloton, but then attacked again with Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek). With 34km to go, Steinhauser went alone, and hung on to claim a famous triumph.
Meanwhile, Pogačar extended his lead in the general classification, riding away from his rivals on the final climb. While he seemed to easily take time on Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe), he ran out of road to take his sixth stage win of the race. Pogačar now leads by 7:42 over Martínez in second, and 8:04 over Thomas in third.
The only notable time lost of the day was the 1:05 given up by Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who slipped behind in his battle for the podium.
Ahead of the GC fray, though, Steinhauser put rode impressively on another day in grim conditions.
"It's something unbelievable," he said. "Already on stage 8 I noticed I had good legs, I thought maybe I could win a stage. The queen stage was an unbelievable day, I could already be happy with that. Today, when I rode to sign on, I though f*** I have good legs, maybe I will win today.
"I went from the beginning with the break, and it was a little bit strange because we got caught by the peloton again. At one moment I thought I had to try again, I did, and it worked out."
Asked if he knew Pogačar was chasing him down in the final 3km, he said: "I heard on the radio, and I was super nervous on the last climb. I knew I had to push all the way to the finish. I heard at one point that he was attacking, but I was already at 2km to go, so I thought I would make it."
How it happened
After Tuesday's chaotic shortened stage, things returned to normal on Wednesday. Pre-race, this was not supposed to be one of the hardest days, but thanks to the rearranged stage 16 and some inclement weather, it turned into one.
The action did not start straight away, with a break unable to go up the opening climb, the Passo Sella. This climb was designated as the Cima Coppi, despite not being the highest point of the race. The sprint for the KOM points was won by Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group–Bardiani–CSF–Faizanè), narrowly ahead of Nairo Quintana (Movistar).
This pair pushed on on the descent, joined by Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek). The break's number swelled as Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), and Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) all made it across before the second climb of the day.
The time gap grew, briefly to over two minutes, on the Passo Rolle, as Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Attila Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike) also went up the road.
However, then dsm-firmenich PostNL started pulling in the peloton, and the break's advantage quickly came down. The bunch briefly split in two on the descent of the Rolle, before the break was swallowed up on the next climb, the Passo Gobbera.
Dsm-firmenich PostNL attempted to launch their leader, Romain Bardet, but this fizzled out.
In the place of pace-setting, Ghebreigzabhier and Steinhauser once again escaped from the peloton with around 58km to go, and this turned into the winning move.
On the penultimate climb, the Passo Brocon's northern side, Steinhauser went alone with around 34km to go. He would not see another rider again until the finish.
It took until the final ascent of the day, up another side of the Brocon, for the GC group to split up. Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) put in a dig, but was marked, and then Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) attacked in the pink jersey. He quickly pulled out a significant gap, but was unable to catch Steinhauser.
Behind, the other GC rivals rolled in together, losing a handful of seconds to the race leader. Steinhauser was already celebrating, having taken his maiden pro win at his first Grand Tour.
Results
Giro d'Italia stage 17: Selva di Val Gardena > Passo Brocon (159km)
1. Georg Steinhauser (Deu) EF Education-EasyPost, in 4:28:51
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, +1:24
3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:42
4. Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers
5. Daniel Martinez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe
6. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar
7. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, all at same time
8. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:55
9. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Quick-Step
10. Rafał Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates, all at same time
General classification after stage 17
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 63:31:18
2. Daniel Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, +7:42
3. Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, +8:04
4. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +9:47
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +10:29
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +11:10
7. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +12:42
8. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +13:33
9. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco-AIUla, +13:52
10. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Quick-Step, +14:44
