Diego Ulissi wins 17th stage and Alberto Contador retains his overall lead in 2011 Giro d’ltalia
Lampre-ISD team’s Diego Ulissi won three-man sprint finish in the seventeenth stage and Alberto Contador retained his overall leader’s jersey in 2011 Giro d’ltalia on Wednesday May, 25.
The race started in Feltre and ended at Tirano. The 21-year-old, Ulissi won his first victory of his career and took a total of 5 hours, 31 minutes and 51 seconds to cover a distance of 230 kilometres.
Pablo Lastras Garcia of Movistar team was in second place with the same timing of Ulissi. Giovanni Visconti was the first men who crossed the finish-line, but race officials relegated him to third because of his action in the final circuit.
After the stage, furious Visconti claimed, “I shouted at Ulissi ten times to let me pass because I was going at twice the speed, but he closed me in against the barriers and I hadn’t raised my arm I would have fallen,”
After 55 kilometres of the race, the group of 15 riders including two riders, Christophe Le Mevel and Visconti went clear in the field. Both of them built advantage of five minutes. With 100 kilometres to go, the gap was up to seven minute and 35 seconds.
The break-away riders soon dropped Kanstantsin Siutsou.
In the closing circuit the three riders including Visconti, Ulissi and Pablo Lastras were all part of a 16-man group and broke clear from the peloton.
Jan Bakelants of Omega-Pharma Lotto team soon joined the three escapes all of them are working together for victory. Ulissi played negative tactics, as he forced Visconti to move to along the crash barriers. The Italian anticipated that Visconti might revert
back to the right, but he continued on the left and Ulissi blocked his line to sprint past him.
Visconti also claimed that Ulissi rode with a “bad attitude” in the stage, but Visconti was disqualified and placed at the third spot.
Three-time Tour de France champion, Alberto Contador, maintained his speed in overall lead with the timing of 68 hours, 18 minutes and 27 seconds. Michele Scarponi of Lampre-ISD was in second with 4 minutes and 58 seconds.
Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas-Cannondale was in the third spot with the difference of 5 minutes and 45 seconds.
The next stage will start in Morbegno and end in San Pellegrino Terme. All the riders will cover a distance of 151 kilometres.
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