O’Connor’s tactics key to welcome Giro win
AUSTRALIAN Ben O’Connor made up for a previous secondplace finish as he claimed victory on stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia with a solo effort on Madonna di Campiglio.
The NTT Pro Cycling rider had to be content with runnerup to Jan Tratnik on Tuesday, missing out over the final climb. O’Connor, though, got his stage 17 tactics spot on across the 203km from Bassano del Grappa, which saw four categorised climbs.
The 24- year- old stayed in touch with the 14- riders breakaway which had built a six- minute advantage and then attacked eight kilometres from the finish to power clear and secure what was a morale- boosting first Grand Tour win. Hermann Pernsteiner was 31 seconds back for Bahrain-McLaren while Belgian Lotto-Soudal racer Thomas De Gendt crossed in third place. O’Connor was pleased to be able to put the disappointment of the previous stage behind him.
“Yesterday’s second place left me feeling pretty bitter,” said the Australian, who does not have a contract for 2021 and his NTT team are without a sponsor so could yet be forced to fold. “Today I was able to bounce back and get this success, it’s a dream to get a victory in a Grand Tour.”
Portugal’s Joao Almeida retained the overall Maglia Rosa lead in the general classification standings. The Deceuninck-Quick Step rider successfully neutralised an attack from Sun web to protect his 17- second advantage over Dutchman Wilco Kelderman and Jai Hindley, who is almost three minutes off the pace.
“Today it was a hard day, a lot of climbing, but I had the perfect team with me,” Almeida said. “That’s one more day in the Maglia Rosa.
“Team Sun-web tried to attack, but I was feeling good. Tomorrow it’s another day, I look forward to it.”
Today’s stage covers 207km from Pinzolo to Laghi di Cancano and a testing trek up the Passo dello Stelvio.