Giro d’Italia stage 17 LIVE: Huge 28-man group breaking up as race reaches punchy finale

12 seconds is the gap between Rubio and Valgren to Caruso, Vlasov, Leknessund and Arrieta.

Rubio takes the KOM points uncontested, for once free of Ciccone and his fast sprint.

2026-05-27T14:54:22.603Z

Menawhile Ciccone and Narváez are over a minute behind, and look out of contention now.

2026-05-27T14:53:52.940Z

Rubio and Valgren still have ten seconds as they near the top of the climb.

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Rubioand Valgren did get a lead of 15 seconds, but that’s coming down again now the chasers are working together again.

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That chasing quartet are starting to look at each other – they need to be careful or could let the leading duo get out of sight!

2026-05-27T14:51:09.759Z

Valgren and Rubio have gone clear of Arrieta, whose dropped back to Caruso, Vlasov, Leknessund and De la Cruz.

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The riders have been climbing the 8km Andalo-Lever, and are nearing the summit.

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Arrieta, Rubio and Valgren lead over the Red Bull KM, a few seconds ahead of the chasers.

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Behind, Caruso and the others are looking at each other.

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Valgren and Arrieta have responded, and are now about to catch Rubio.

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Rubio has a gap!

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Rubio tries for a third time, and this time nobody has responded.

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Narváez attacks again behind, but still has multiple riders on his wheel.

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Caruso and Rubio keep attacing from the front group, but haven’t made a selection yet.

2026-05-27T14:42:23.706Z

Here comes Narváez! He attacks towards the bottom of the climb from the chase group behind.

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Caruso attacks again, and now Rubio counters.

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This climb lasts just 2.9km but averages 6.4%.

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He hasn’t managed to break the group up though.

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Caruso attacks, just as they start the San Lorenzo Dorsino climb!

The Ciccone / Narváez group still has 30 seconds to make up to join the leaders. With only 20km left to ride, they’re running out of time!

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Back in the peloton, which is 6 minutes behind, Jayco-AlUla are still working in defence of O’Connor’s 9th place on GC.

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The chase group is made up of: Narváez, Mas, Ciccone, Van der Lee, Hirt, Stork, Donovan and Gualdi.

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The chasers are coming back to the leaders, they’re now just 18 seconds behind.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-05-27T14:27:09.670Z

The chase group with Narváez and Ciccone in it are 30 seconds behind.

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Van Dijke and De la Cruz have joined the leaders. So that’s ten at the front.

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Ciccone and Narváez are conspicuous by their absence at the front.

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De la Cruz and Van Dijke are trying to bridge up to the leading eight.

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Arrieta has made it back to the lead group, to become its eighth member.

Those leading seven are 50 seconds ahead of the main chase group.

2026-05-27T14:22:44.282Z

Rubio attacked to catch Caruso and Garofoli, but they’ve now been joined by Leknessund, López, Valgren and Vlasov.

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Rubio, Vlasov and Arrieta caught Leknessund, Valgren and López.

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The leading quintet.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-05-27T14:19:01.288Z

They’re descending for a short while after the long uphill drag, and Caruso and Garofoli have opened up a gap on the others who were in the lead group.

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Now Vlasov joins Arrieta and Rubio.

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Rubio has joined Arrieta.

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Arrieta was one of the riders to follow Van den Broeck, and has attacked himself.

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Van den Broeck attacks from the chase group to try and force a selection.

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There are still some splits in the chasing groups, and Narváez is attacking to try and close it.

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Behind the leaders, the chasers are breaking up as they keep attacking each other.

Leknessund has joined them, and they lead the chasers by 28 seconds.

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Leknessund is chasing after them, another rider of a team (Uno-X Mobility) who already have a win at this Giro.

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A reminder that 18 teams were represented in this breakaway group, including 13 of the winless teams. But only two of those teams, Movistar (with López) and EF (with Valgren) are in this leading quartet.

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Those four riders are 15 seconds up on the chasers.

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Valgren, Garofoli and López are the three riders with Caruso.

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Caruso has attacked, and taken three riders with him.

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The road is dragging uphill, and will continue tha way for most of the 45km still to ride.

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He’s been caught, as Movistar chase.

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Garofoli has attacked out of the break! A another Soudal rider, he’ll be partly riding to try and prevent Narváez from getting Points Classification points.

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The leading breakaway are all together again, and lead the peloton by 5:45.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The virtual Points Classification:

1 Narváez 155 points

2 Magnier 145

3 Milan 78

4 Stuyven 71

5 Silva 70

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Those three riders have been caught.

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Van den Bossche and Ciccone and Narváez have gone clear together over the climb, and still have a lead of a few seconds.

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Magnier’s Soudal teammate Van den Bossche tried to challenge Narváez for the points on behalf of Magnier, but simply didn’t have the same kick.

No they don’t – Narváez takes the 12 points on offer, and becomes virtual leader in the Maglia Ciclamino!

2026-05-27T13:46:59.215Z

The catch is made 300m from the top, and the sprint. Will anyone challenge Narváez?

2026-05-27T13:46:28.278Z

De la Cruz has caught Cavagna, and behind the Arrieta-led chase is about to catch them.

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De la Cruz can see Cavagna. It doesn’t look like he’s going to surirve to the intermediate sprint still in the lead.

2026-05-27T13:44:48.816Z

UAE are leading the chase of De la Cruz. They don’t want to see these Maglia Rosa points disappear up the road.

Cavagna’s lead is evaporating. He’s only 42 seconds ahead of the chasers.

2026-05-27T13:42:36.540Z

De la Cruz has attacked out of the chase group.

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At the top of the climb is the intermediate sprint, so Narváez will be attentive.

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Cavagna and the chasing breakaway are on the climb now.

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Rémi Cavagna, leading the race still.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The rain seems to have eased off.

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Freed up from domestique duties for podium contender Jai Hindley, Aleksandr Vlasov will want to capitalise on having made the breakaway today. He enjoys the kind of punchy climbs today is characterised by.

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Leknessund is another rider to watch, having already come so close with two second-place finishes. Can he ride the wave of positivity at Uno-X Mobility, following Dversnes’ stage win on Sunday?

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The strength of De la Cruz and Caruso on the climbs is reflected by their high top 14 placings on GC. Have they used up too much energy in past stages defending those positions to compete for the stage win today, is the question.

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One rider to look out for in this respect is Ciccone. The Italian has been desperate for a stage win all Giro, and has one of his best chances so far to land one today having made the break. With no teammates in the break, however, he’ll have to race smartly.

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They’re nearing the foot of the climb, which is where we can possibly expect the breakaway group to start breaking up as the stronger climbers try to shed the weaker ones.

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The large breakaway group chasing Cavagna.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-05-27T13:26:13.248Z

Jayco-AlUla have taken over doing the work in the peloton. They’re doing so to defend O’Connor’s ninth place on GC, which is currently under threat by Caruso and De la Cruz.

Cavagna’s lead has grown again to 1:55 of the chase group, which is in turn 5: 30 ahead of the peloton, who, despite Visma’s tempo-setting, appear happy to let them contest the stage.

2026-05-27T13:23:35.066Z

Some refreshing rain might be welcomed by the riders on such a hot day, especially given the lack of descending on the menu. Certainly anyone following the action from the UK must be feeling jealous.

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It’s raining, the heavens have opened!

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At last, for the first time in a while, Cavagna’s lead is coming down. It’s dipped beneath two minutes again.

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If you haven’t already, be sure to read Philippa York’ expert analysis of this final week of the Giro.

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The road is going gradually uphill, and will do so until starting the day’s third climb, the San Lorenzo Dorsino (2.9km at 6.4%).

2026-05-27T13:12:29.962Z

Jan Hirt has dragged the riders who were caught the wrong side of that split back into the group, so they are all back together again now.

2026-05-27T13:10:58.878Z

There’s been a split in the breakway group.

Cavagna leads the break by 2:30, and the peloton by 6:29.

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Surprisingly, Visma have upped the pace in the peloton. For what purpose? It’s unclear. Surely they don’t intend to bring the break back?

2026-05-27T13:03:59.871Z

Cavagna really is on a mission! He’s lead is growing and growing, up to 2:17. It’s just a shame for him his that there are over 80km of this long stage to go.

2026-05-27T12:57:50.592Z

It’s calm enough in the peloton for Simone Consonni to take a brief stop to say hello to who we assume must be his partner and kids.

Two minutes for Cavagna over the breakaway, and 5:44 over the peloton.

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After Movistar, UAE are the net best represented team with three, and could prove party poopers among the teams chasing their first stage win of the Giro by winning their fifth. Narváez is of course their main man, and will be extra motivated by the big points classification haul that would come with winning the stage, but Arrieta and Christen both have the pedigree to win the stage too.

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Movistar are the best represented team in the break with four riders, among them some quality riders. Mas and Rubio have already been active in breakaways since falling out of GC contention, and will like the look of the climbs coming up, while Milesi has also shown sterling form this Giro, and López has done some good work as a domestique.

2026-05-27T12:47:13.374Z

Here are the new KOM rankings after the two climbs earlier:

1 Vingegaard 211

2 Ciccone 133

3 Gall 96

4 Van der Lee 84

5 Rubio 79

1:50 is Cavagana’s lead over the breakaway, and five minutes over the peloton.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Cavagna is committed to this move, and his lead is getting bigger and bigger. It’s up to 1:45.

Cavagana still leads, and by quite a bir margin. He’s 1:10 up on the breakaway group, while the peloton is now a distant 4:47.

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Cavagna crests the climb, while Ciccone wins the sprint for second ahead of Rubio and Van der Lee.

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Cavagna is about to take the KOM points at the top, and we can anticipate some riders going for the remaining points in the group behind – namely Ciccone, Rubio and Van der Lee.

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So we now have a massive group of 28 riders, behind lone leader Cavagna.

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The catch has been made, the chase group has caught the early break!

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And now Cavagna has had another change of heart, and is pressing on after all.

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But he’s thought better of it and has sat up.

2026-05-27T12:19:40.631Z

Cavagna has attacked out of the lead group.

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It seems this big chase group is indeed going to catch the leaders. As they continue the climb, they’re now just 23 seconds behind them.

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It’s a very big group that is chasing the leaders. Here are the riders in it:

Narváez, Arrieta, Vlasov, Ciccone, Caruso, De la Cruz, Hirt, Mas, Rubio, Lopez, Stork, Gualdi, Van der Lee, Bayer, Garofoli, Leemrize, Van den Bossche and Donovan.

Still the gap between the leaders and the chasers holds steady, at 47 seconds. The peloton seems happy to sit up though, allowing the gap to the leaders to grow to 2:55.

2026-05-27T12:11:52.454Z

The riders are on to the day’s second climb, the 7.8km, 4.3% Cocca di Lodrino.

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The chase group are pulling away from the peloton again, but the leaders are still 55 seconds up the road from them.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-05-27T12:02:55.846Z

This chase group was already big and unruly, but even more so now that another group of riders who attacked the peloton on the climb has joined them on the descent.

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Whether or not this group makes it to the lead group may even determine the ultimate fate of the Maglia Ciclamino If it does, Narváez stands to take it from Magnier and build a big lead; if it doesn’t it’s advantage Magnier still.

At the moment, the chase group is losing ground, falling to 50 seconds behind the leaders, and 40 seconds ahead of the peloton.

2026-05-27T12:00:08.694Z

Caruso is remonstrating with the rest of the chase group to try and get them to work together. The race still hangs in the balance of whether or not they will bridge up to the leaders.

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The Narváez group crests the climb at about 35 seconds, and the peloton at about 1:30.

They first and second groups come together as the crest the climb, and Bais, having attacked from the group behind a little earlier, leads them over the top to take the KOM points uncontested.

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Van den Broeck, Milesi and Van Dijke are about to catch the leaders.

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This group with Narváez is full of many strong riders – Ciccone, Mas, Caurso, Van der Lee, Rubio are all there.

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Narváez has made it into the large chase group (the one O’Connor one is before dropping back), which is ahead of the peloton and behind the main chase group.

2km from the top, the leaders are 22 seconds ahead of the chase group, and 1:15 ahead of the peloton.

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Meanwhile the main chase group, which Bayer and Kopecky have been dropped out of, is only 20 seconds behind the leaders.

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The rest of the counter-attackers are still pressing on though.

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O’Connor has sat up and alloweed himself to come back into the peloton. As someone in the top ten on GC, Visma must have felt like they couldn’t let him up the road.

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Visma have reacted to this O’Connor counter-move.

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Pellizzari has also been dropped from the peloton.

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Magnier is being dropped from the peloton on the climb. Will this be Narváez’s cue to try and get up the road?

2026-05-27T11:38:48.558Z

Some interesting names and quality climbers are trying to get involved with Stork’s attack – Rubio and O’Connor are both trying to go with him.

2026-05-27T11:37:53.853Z

Tudor Pro Cycling had led the peloton on the first part of the climb, and have now fired Stork off the front with an attack. Is he too far behind the groups already to catch them though?

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The riders in the chase group are: Bais, Milessi, Van den Broeck, Van Dijke, Bayer and Kopecky.

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The climb they’re on is the Passo dei Tre Termini, and it climbs at 8.2km at 5.9%.

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The 7 leaders start the climb, with a lead of over a minute on the chase group, and two minutes on the peloton. It seems they will be the break of the day – but can any of the group behind climb well enough to join them?

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The 7 riders in the lead group.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-05-27T11:29:43.654Z

Bayer has been caught by the 6-man counter that formed behind him.

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Visma and Ineos have spread their riders across the road at the front of the peloton, leaving little room for anyone else to attack. This might beit for attacks out of the peloton.

Are the peloton done chasing for now? They’ve allowed the leading 7 to get 1:30 up to the road now, with Bayer 30 seconds up and a new counter-attacking group a few seconds.

2026-05-27T11:25:24.514Z

The pace has slowed down in the peloton for a first time in a while, but that only lasts a few moment as more attacks are fired out of the peloton.

2026-05-27T11:24:37.034Z

Tobias Bayer has attacked by himself and is trying to bridge up to the leaders without any assistance.

2026-05-27T11:23:09.301Z

In about 10km the complexion of the stage is about to change significantly, as the road goes uphill for the first time for the first climb of the day. At this point, if the day’s break still hasn’t been formed, a whole different type of rider will be in contention to get into the break.

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The gap’s coming down again though, to 15 seconds.

Their lead continues to grow, to 25 seconds, while fresh attacks keep coming from behind in the peloton.

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6 of the 16 teams without a stage win are represented in this lead group – which means 10 of the winless teams aren’t here, and therefore may not be happy with this move.

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Another counter attack, this time by a Movistar rider, ahd sparked a flurry of new moves out of the peloton. This is still far from settled down.

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Ghebreigzabhier counters out of the peloton to try and bridge up to the leaders.

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It’s actually a 7-man group that leads the race: specifically: Leknessund, Christen, Valgren, Cavagna, Larsen, Tonelli and Tarozzi.

2026-05-27T11:07:05.032Z

Now this group is beginning to make progress, increasing their lead to 10 seconds.

That group has failed to get away substantially and only has a slender lead.

2026-05-27T11:03:45.644Z

A new group of 6 has formed and has a fragile lead on the peloton.

2026-05-27T10:58:40.687Z

A few more riders joined Stuyven, but UAE’s Bjerg took a big turn at the front of the peloton to bring them all back.

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That sparks another wave of attacks, Jasper Stuyven the latest to try.

Mihkels, Jacobs and Froidevaux have been caught, so the peloton is all back together again!

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They’ve all been brought back by the peloton, and the 3 leaders only have a very slender lead of a few seconds.

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The Polti duo have been caught by a small group of attackers from out the peloton.

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Bais and Maestri are the two Polti riders who attacked, and are still ahead of the peloton, but behind the three leaders.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-05-27T10:45:00.163Z

Two Polti riders are the latest to try and jump out of the peloton.

Froidevaux, Jacobs and Mihkels lead the peloton by 20 seconds, but there’s still plenty of interest and activity in the latter by riders eager to get up the road.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-05-27T10:40:59.742Z

Flat tyre for Arrieta. He’s one of the riders you’d back to get into the break on a stage like today’s.

2026-05-27T10:40:27.079Z

Jacobs and Froidevaux are the two riders leading the race with Mihkels.

2026-05-27T10:38:38.389Z

Narváez makes his first move to get up the road – and inevitably has Maglia Ciclamino rival Magnier glued to his wheel!

2026-05-27T10:37:42.525Z

Mihkels is up the road with a Tudor and Movistar rider.

2026-05-27T10:36:16.981Z

Dylan Groenewegen has had to stop for a mechanical.

2026-05-27T10:35:45.559Z

Martin Marcellusi has been brought back, and three new riders lead the race – Mihkels, and two others.

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Martin Marcellusi is the first rider to get a small gap with an attack.

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NSN are the most lively team so far, but no gaps have been estbalished yet.

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Today’s stage might feature over 3,000m of climbing but that’s all to come later. The first 50km are all flat.

And they’re off!

2026-05-27T10:27:55.732Z

Just 1 more kilometre in the neutralised zone before the stage is set to start.

2026-05-27T10:25:57.697Z

One battle set to intensify today is that for the Maglia Ciclamino. Having gained some more points yesterday, Jhonatan Narváez now lies just two points behind leader Paul Magnier, and today looks like prime territory for the Ecuadorian. He will surely try to get into the break to mop up more points, both at the finish and the intermediate sprint 140km into the stage, and Soudal-QuickStep will likely do all they can to prevent him from doing so.

2026-05-27T10:17:38.811Z

Large crowds have assembled in Cassano d’Adda to see the riders off from the unofficial start.

2026-05-27T10:16:01.251Z

With such a breakaway-friendly parcours, and with 16 teams still lacking a stage win at the race, there will be a huge number of riders wanting to get into the breakaway, so brace yourself for another hectic start to the stage as riders fight to form the definitive group.

2026-05-27T10:06:01.991Z

With such a breakaway-friendly parcours, and with 16 teams still lacking a stage win at the race, there will be a huge number of riders wanting to get into the breakaway, so brace yourself for another hectic start to the stage as riders fight to form the definitive group.

2026-05-27T10:00:21.907Z

Today’s parcours has one outcome written all over it: breakaway success. Not hard enough for the GC riders, but too hard for the sprinters, many riders will have spied this as one of, if not the, final chance to win a stage, and will therefore put their all in making this one succeed.

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Here’s our preview of the stage.

2026-05-27T09:52:04.450Z

After yesterday’s excursion into the mountains, and fourth stage victory for Jonas Vingegaard, today’s parcours is far punchier, with three category three climbs, plus an uphill to the finish

2026-05-27T09:47:06.888Z

Buongiorno and welcome to stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia!