Visconti claims stage 17 win, Nibali in pink

Italian Giovanni Visconti soloed to victory in the 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday to hand his Movistar team their fourth win of the race. Overall race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) retained the pink jersey with a 1min 26sec lead on Australian rival Cadel Evans (BMC) intact after the 214 km ride from Caravaggio to Vicenza. It is Visconti's second stage win of this year's race following his triumphant climb to the finish on the Galibier on stage 15 and adds to stage wins by teammates Alex Dowsett and Benat Intxausti. Britain's Mark Cavendish, meanwhile, dropped out of contention for a potential bunch sprint finish after struggling on the stage's only climb, whose summit was 18 km from the finish. It was on the latter part of the Crosara climb that Visconti made his move, the Italian attacking from the main peloton and catching, then overtaking, leading pair Danilo Di Luca (Vini Fantini) and Miguel Rubiano (Androni). Rubiano tried to follow, but Visconti upped the pace after cresting the climb and quickly went on to build a 30-sec lead which proved decisive. Ramunas Navardauskas was next over the finish line 19sec later, the Lithuanian, who rides for Garmin, raising his hands in the air in the mistaken belief he had won the stage. It is the second such occurence in the race. On stage nine Colombian Carlos Betancur raised his arms in triumph shortly after Russian Maxim Belkov had claimed the honours. The pink jersey for the overall honours, meanwhile, is set to be decided in the coming days. Thursday's stage is an uphill individual time trial over 20.6 km from Mori to Polsa in which both Nibali and Evans will be expected to excel, while Friday and Saturday's stages are both scheduled to be held at high altitude in the Italian Dolomites. The 96th edition of the race finishes Sunday in Brescia. Source: AFP