Denmark’s Michael Valgren chose his moment perfectly to power towards victory on the 17th stage of the Giro d’Italia, leaving himself enough room before the line to be able to pull a lucky Pokémon chip out of his pocket and show it off to the cameras. Further back, his compatriot Jonas Vingegaard continued his march to a first overall win on the Grand Tour.
Valgren took the honours in Andalo after attacking from a small group with a kilometre remaining of the undulating 202km ride from Cassano d’Adda with riders suffering from the punishing heat and also sudden downpours.
The 34-year-old EF Education-EasyPost rider claimed his second stage win of the season, with his other also coming in Italy at the Tirreno-Adriatico, though Wednesday’s effort was his first stage victory in a Grand Tour.
He later explained that his son had given him the lucky charm to ride with on the stage – a Pokémon chip featuring his team’s colours.
Valgren was part of a large group that pulled away from the break on the final categorised Andalo-Lever climb. Initially, he looked to be contesting the stage honours with Einer Rubio before the pair were caught.
“When I have good legs I’m pretty good at it,” Valgren said. “This was missing from my résumé,” he said. “I think I deserved this. I think I’ve always said, my career has been pretty good, but I needed this Grand Tour stage win.”
Vingegaard, who is hunting a Giro-Tour de France double this year, stays four minutes ahead of Felix Gall in the overall standings after rolling home with the peloton.
Jhonatan Narváez won the intermediate sprint and took the points jersey from France’s Paul Magnier, who was not part of the break and now trails the UAE rider by 10 points.
Vingegaard is likely to maintain his advantage at the top of the general classification on Thursday when the peloton takes on a hilly 171km ride between Fai della Paganella and Pieve di Soligo.
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