Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 17: San Michele all’Adige – Bormio, 155 km

[Lequack]

Can Derek Gee channel his inner Ryder Hesjedal?

 

[Samamba]

Only real GC riders are left, finally!

Nice to see Pellizzari being free. Should have been leader anyway after 2024. Get in!

Well thats his own fault for choosing Red Bull.

 

[Cookster15]

I saw Mortirolo and sensed trepidation. But then I looked which side they are climbing it.

The gaps opened today because it was an MTF. Del Toro will finish with the GC group on this stage - likely won from a break (again).

Looks like this Giro will be decided on stage 20 (Finestre / Setriere).

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Is this stage design really that bad? To me it looks pretty promising in terms of seeing action from far out.

 

[HashRouge]

Is this stage design really that bad? To me it looks pretty promising in terms of seeing action from far out.

Every comment I read says something different, so I have no idea. I can't watch the next few stages, so I kind of hope nothing exciting happens until Saturday to be honest.

 

[vladimir]

UAE has a difficult strategic decision to make tomorrow. Will they try to "babysit" Del Toro safely through, just to maybe risk losing it all on Finestre? Or shall they try to put Adam Y and/or McNulty in the breakaway to force other teams to chase, and maybe even put three riders back into contention for the pink?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

UAE has a difficult strategic decision to make tomorrow. Will they try to "babysit" Del Toro safely through, just to maybe risk losing it all on Finestre? Or shall they try to put Adam Y and/or McNulty in the breakaway to force other teams to chase, and maybe even put three riders back into contention for the pink?

It would be fantastic if UAE would seriously consider such a move, however this is not a one dimensional game, so the likelihood of success seems smal. Chaos or somewhat order. That is the question.

 

[Mako]

More likely is that Ineos try to attack with Bernal, doesn't drop anyone and then Carapaz counters and takes more time

I don't understand why people have to give INEOS *** for making the race exciting. If they shake the tree long enough, eventually something will give. I prefer this version of INEOS heavily over the boring Sky train. And if there's any team to drag through the tactical gutter it's UAE.

 

[Escarabajo]

I really hope that Bernal recovers on this stage. Please don't go crazy and just wait for the last 2 mountain stages.

 

[Escarabajo]

Quintana's win is imminent!

 

[Tim Cahill]

I don't understand why people have to give INEOS *** for making the race exciting. If they shake the tree long enough, eventually something will give. I prefer this version of INEOS heavily over the boring Sky train. And if there's any team to drag through the tactical gutter it's UAE.

Bernal moved up 2 spots today after a crash, he moved up one space the stage before when he attacked from 95k, and 2 spots on stage 13 when they tried to attack from a long way out. If it wasn't for them shaking the tree we'd probably have Ayuso and Roglic still staring at each other whilst their teams fakepace at 5 w/kg praying to god they manage to heal up enough to be good, 20 lads coming to the line same time.

They've done this with the C team and basically no climbing domestiques.

 

[Red Rick]

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The town is especially notable for alpine skiing, where it is a mainstay on the World Cup circuit, has organised the World Championships in 1985 and 2005, and will host the men’s events in the 2026 Olympics. And of course, cycling is also key here, both from a tourist and a racing perspective. The Giro has finished here on seven previous occasions (including the one in Bormio 2000, above town), including the legendary 1988 Gavia stage which really needs no introduction here. The last of these stages was in 2017, with Vincenzo Nibali taking the win while Tom Dumoulin put his pink jersey in jeopardy by fertilizing the roadside.

Careful with the mentioning of other sports there, Samu, you wouldn't want to cause any offence would you?

 

[E_F_]

and were they?

Well, they probably won't be tomorrow. Perhaps on stage 20. We'll see.

 

[KZD]

After suffering today, EF and Visma will surely test Del Toro once again.

For me its a key day to understand if today was only a bad day or if Del Toro is really fading. Something that caught my eye today is that the whole UAE (apart from Majka) looked bad and its not the first time that it happens so maybe there is still some hope for Del Toro so I don't think that he will lose pink tomorrow.

Breakaway should take the stage once again, I will go with Stork for this one.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Careful with the mentioning of other sports there, Samu, you wouldn't want to cause any offence would you?

Wasn‘t the main offence committed by @Devil's Elbow and Samu‘s copypaste isn‘t quite as bad?

 

[E_F_]

If they shake the tree long enough, eventually something will give.

Bernal will, yeah... fwiw I love the way Ineos and Bernal are attacking - I just also find it funny how futile it is.

 

[tobydawq]

Bernal will, yeah... fwiw I love the way Ineos and Bernal are attacking - I just also find it funny how futile it is.

That has sadly been a feature of their season. Foss has also had some fliers in Paris-Nice and the one with Jungels in LBL.

There is room for improvement with their offensive tactics, though it has been much better in the Giro where sheer bad luck prevented a great coup on the gravel stage (and no, it's not freaking Lucas Hamilton's crash that was the brilliant tactic that day) but Bernal has probably been a bit too optimistic at times.

 

[Red Rick]

After suffering today, EF and Visma will surely test Del Toro once again.

For me its a key day to understand if today was only a bad day or if Del Toro is really fading. Something that caught my eye today is that the whole UAE (apart from Majka) looked bad and its not the first time that it happens so maybe there is still some hope for Del Toro so I don't think that he will lose pink tomorrow.

Breakaway should take the stage once again, I will go with Stork for this one.

For me it's neither and the answer is more likely he was never the best pure climber in the race to begin with

 

[Pantani_lives]

It can go both ways. The "gentle" side of the Mortirolo is still a tough climb; it's just a bit far from the finish. If Del Toro gets dropped, a small group can work together and it can be a spectacular final. If not it could just go to the breakaway.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Wasn‘t the main offence committed by @Devil's Elbow and Samu‘s copypaste isn‘t quite as bad?

You shouldn't shoot the messenger, no. However I think I should have been reprimanded for not mentioning more winter sports athletes in my ToTA thread. For this stage, I can add that running sensation Nadia Battocletti is from the area around Cles.

 

[YavorD]

Can Derek Gee channel his inner Ryder Hesjedal?

I think he would be much more impressive than Hesjedal. He had the Maglia Rosa after the TTT and they didn't attack them seriously for most of the Giro IIRC.

Gee has to claw time back and if he is to win the Giro, he should be the strongest rider in week 3.

 

[Andre]

Zana will win this stage....from a breakaway group

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Carapaz, Yates, Bernal, Pellizzari, Gee etc all can taste the blood dripping from UAE, so it seems pretty obvious that they would all want to absolute nuke Motriolo. It's the soft side, but it's still a brutal climb and differences can be made.

 

[nightowl]

Weirdly I think Del Toroight might do well tomorrow. He recovered quite well after cracking today, tomorrow is a much shorter stage with easier climbs, and a 3km 8% climb with a rolling descent to the finish suits him really well compared to the other GC guys.

I guess it depends on his recovery from today…