'I think I deserve this' - Michael Valgren escapes to victory on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia as break makes it to finish

Michael Valgren escaped to victory on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia, as the breakaway lasted the distance on the road to Andalo.

The EF Education-EasyPost rider held up a lucky charm made by his son as he toasted victory ahead of Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious).

The 34-year-old worked in unison with Movistar's Einer Rubio from 20km to go, with the pair leading up the final 8% incline towards the finish. But it was in the final 500m of the race that Valgren sped away from the pursuing bunch, not waiting for a sprint finish to decide the race, as Rubio was caught.

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The victory marked the Dane's first Grand Tour stage win. In 2022, he suffered career-threatening injuries – a fractured pelvis, dislocated hip and torn knee ligaments – when he crashed on a descent at the Route d'Occitanie.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) maintained his Giro lead overall.

"It’s a funny thing, people think I’m fast, but I’m actually quite slow," Valgren said after the race. "This morning, [TNT Sports pundit] Adam Blythe asked me about my maximum peak power and it was ridiculously embarrassing to be honest. So yeah, this is my move, and when I have good legs, I’m pretty good at it.

"It was a strange day, it was such a big group and we never worked together. I was getting kind of pissed to be honest, like why don’t we just try to race? Then we for sure raced a lot in the end," Valgren laughed.

A flurry of attacks had opened the stage earlier today, with Caruso dominating the bulk of its second half. With a controlled mountain descent, the Italian veteran led out the break of eight riders that formed at 30km to go, despite roads slick with rain that saw Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) drop out of contention.

Caruso pushed on the final classified climb, Andalo-Lever, with 17km to go, with Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) following on his wheel. Ahead, the lead group looked strong, spearheaded by Rubio and Valgren working in unison, with Caruso 15 seconds behind, hungry for a stage win on his approach to retirement.

On the final 8% climb to the finish, the fight looked to be between Rubio and Valgren. Arrieta then bridged across, followed by Aleskandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Leknessund and Caruso.

Each rider made jabs to get away, until Valgren made the race-winning move under the flamme rouge, shooting up the road, and leaving the chasing group unable to catch him.

"It was super-hard, I was really on my limit," Valgren said after the race. "I didn’t have any more food for a while, because the cars were really behind us. I was really worried and thought I was going to bonk. I was lucky it wasn’t 500m longer.

“I missed this on my resume," he added. "I think I deserve this, I think my career has been really good, but I needed this stage win."

Giro d'Italia stage 17: Cassano d’Adda > Andalo (202km)

1. Michael Valgren (Den) EF Education-EasyPost, 4:41:33
2. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +3s
3. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +6s
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, a.s.t
5. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, a.s.t
6. Igor Arrieta (Esp) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +14s
7. Gianmarco Gardoli (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step, +52s
8. David de la Cruz (Esp) Pinarello Q36.5, +1:08
9. Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:44
10. Mark Donavan (Gbr) Pinarello Q36.5, a.s.t

General classification after stage 17

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 66:57:14
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:03
3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +4:27
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:00
5. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +5:40
6. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +7:09
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:14
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +7:57
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +8:34
10. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +9:20