Stage 17

The road

At the start

Quintana in pink, and the cold bites

Nairo Quintana came off the Stelvio in the maglia rosa with 1:41 on Rigoberto Urán and 3:21 on Cadel Evans, and the argument over whether that descent was neutralised will run for years. The cold took eight more riders out of the race yesterday, Michele Scarponi and Alessandro Petacchi among them. Today crosses the Alps without a pass: 211 kilometres to Vittorio Veneto over the wall of Ca' del Poggio.

How it was won

1. 157 km to go

   Wellens hoovers up the points

   Over twenty riders are up the road on a stage profile that screamed breakaway. Tim Wellens takes the intermediate sprint in Valdobbiadene and then goes hunting mountains points too.

2. 220 km to go

   De Gendt leads, Pirazzi closes

   Thomas de Gendt hits the Muro di Ca' del Poggio with a lead over a hesitant, stuttering chase — but by the summit Stefano Pirazzi has dragged himself to within touching distance.

3. 31 km to go

   Pirazzi strikes for home

   Just over a kilometre out the most restless attacker of this Giro goes one more time, knowing he cannot beat these men in a sprint. De Gendt and Montaguti chase; nobody answers.

4. 4At the line

   This time he hangs on

   So often the carrot dangled in front of a chasing bunch, Pirazzi finally stays away into Vittorio Veneto, clear of Wellens and McCarthy — Bardiani's third stage of the race.

The result