Cycling - Giro d'Italia - Stage 17 - Selva di Val Gardena/Wolkenstein in Groden to Passo del Brocon - Italy - May 22, 2024 EF Education - EasyPost's Georg Steinhauser reacts before crossing the line to win stage 17 REUTERS/Ciro De Luca
(Reuters) -Germany's Georg Steinhauser halted race leader Tadej Pogacar's streak of stage wins at the Giro d'Italia with a solo victory after a day of incessant climbing on Wednesday.
Steinhauser (EF Education–EasyPost) went alone from a breakaway group on the first climb of the Passo Brocon with just over 30km of the 159km 17th stage remaining and continued to open up a sizeable gap over pursuer Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier.
With the peloton showing no real urgency in giving chase, the 22-year-old Grand Tour debutant Steinhauser powered up the second climb of Passo Brocon in steady rain to take the victory.
Giro debutant Pogacar had won the 15th stage and Tuesday's chaotic 16th stage to open up a huge gap in the battle for the Maglia Rosa but resisted the urge to make it a hat-trick.
The UAE Team Emirates rider accelerated away from the main group in the final kilometres to put more distance between himself and his supposed general classification rivals.
Pogacar finished one minute and 24 seconds behind Steinhauser to push his overall lead towards eight minutes.
"Well I really held my horses until the final so it was a really beautiful stage," Pogacar, who has dominated the race almost from the start, said.
"A little bit cold on the last descent but we stretched the legs good on the final climb."
He leads Colombia's Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) by 07:42 with Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) 08:04 back.
Pogacar said Saturday's penultimate stage could be his chance to rack up a sixth stage win.
"The main goal is always to keep the jersey into Rome and not do anything stupid. But there is one really nice stage, Monte Grappa close to Slovenia, we can see what happens there," the Slovenian rider said.
For Steinhauser it was his biggest senior win.
"To be honest, I didn't really think about much, I just concentrated on the roads in front of me," he said.
"The roads were super wet and slippery so I was just in my zone. I heard on the radio and I was super nervous in the last climb and I heard at one point that he (Pogacar) was attacking but I was already 2km to go so I thought I will make it."
Thursday's 178km run to Padua takes the peloton out of the mountains and will be a day for the sprinters.
(Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Christian Radnedge and Toby Davis)
