Giro d'Italia Stage 17: Peters wins, Carapaz extends lead

AG2R-La Mondiale’s Nans Peters has won Stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia in Antholz today, while Richard Carapaz of Movistar celebrated his 26th birthday by extending his overall lead with an attack in the final kilometre, gaining 7 seconds over his closest rival, Vincenzo Nibali of Bahrain-Merida, who is now 1 minute 54 seconds behind.

Peters, together with Valerio Conti of UAE Team Emirates, had initiated a break that eventually swelled to 18 riders after around 30 kilometres of today’s 181-kilometre stage from Commezzadura.

The 25-year-old Frenchman, who today took his first professional win, attacked from the group with 18 kilometres remaining and had a lead of around a minute over his closest pursuers as he passed under the 5 kilometres to go banner, heading towards the final climb.

It was an advantage he would maintain throughout the climb, which had an average gradient of 8.2 per cent and touched 12 per cent at one point, before levelling out in the final kilometre ahead of the finish in Antholz’s biathlon stadium, which will host next year’s world championships in the sport.

Back in the main peloton Team Ineos had done much of the work to limit the advantage of the escapees, who included Davide Formolo of Bora-Hansgrohe, a threat to Pavel Sivakov’s top 10 place in the overall standings.

With 3 kilometres left, Movistar’s Mikel Landa, fourth overall, made a move, only British rider Hugh Carthy of EF Education First, who has impressed throughout the race, going with him, although the Spaniard eventually shook him off.

Ahead of the line, Carapaz would be overtaken by the maglia rosa of Carapaz and the white jersey of best young rider, Miguel Angel Lopez of Astana, as the pair consolidated their leads of the respective classifications after attacking with 1 kilometre remaining.

Result and report to follow.