Italian Lampre-Merida rider Sacha Modolo won his second stage of the Giro d’Italia on Wednesday as he came out on top in a sprint finish following the 17th stage from Tirano, Italy, to Lugano, Switzerland.
Spaniard Alberto Contador comfortably retained the leader’s maglia rosa after a relatively flat day of racing across 134km.
The 27-year-old Modolo, who also won stage 13, finished ahead of compatriot Giacomo Nizzolo of Trek Factory Racing, who also finished second on Friday last week, while Slovenian Luka Mezgec of Team Giant-Alpecin took third spot.
Photo: AP
“It was like a family arrival,” Contador said after being greeted by his wife, Macarena, at the finish and the fact he has a residence nearby in Lugano. “In theory it was a transitional stage, but it was hard. The road went up and down, and we were riding into a headwind for most of the day. The peloton was very nervous and it was fast, with the three-man breakaway up the road.”
“So far, something has happened almost every day: a crash, a puncture. I’m very happy because I got through the stage safely and arrived in Lugano, where I live, on my home roads,” the Tinkoff-Saxo rider said.
“Yesterday was much more wearing than I would have liked, but I’m one day closer to Milan,” added Contador, who won the Giro d’Italia in 2008 and is bidding to become the first rider since the late Marco Pantani, in 1998, to win the Giro and Tour de France in the same year.
The Giro enjoyed a welcome day of sunshine and was brought to life by a three man escape — Belgian Iljo Keisse, and Italian duo Marco Bandiera and Giacomo Berlato — who took off at the 2km mark.
The peloton kept their maximum advantage to a miserly 3 minutes, 30 seconds, before reeling in the three riders 26km from home.
Australian Adam Hansen of Lotto-Soudal was the next rider to attack, but he was also caught with 10km to race.
The stage then came down to a sprint finish which was dominated by the Lampre-Merida team, who set up Modolo perfectly to make the decisive burst for the line.
“On paper, the stage looked easy, but in reality it was hard, with a real ramp at 4km to go,” Modolo said. “I looked around me on the ramp and I saw lots of potential sprinters in difficulty, but perhaps they were more tired than me. Yesterday was very hard, but I had good legs today and it was nice and hot — the sort of day I like.”
Yesterday’s stage was due to be a 170km ride from Melide, Switzerland, to Verbania, Italy, featuring a category one climb that peaked 35km from home.
The race finishes on Sunday with a flat stage from Torino to Milan.
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