Santiago Buitrago takes emotional win at Giro d'Italia stage 17 as Richard Carapaz defends overall lead - Results
The 22-year-old Colombian from the Bahrain-Victorious team powered past Mathieu van der Poel and Gijs Leemreize on the final climb to claim his first victory in a Grand Tour.
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Santiago Buitrago has become the youngest Colombian ever to win a stage at the Giro d'Italia after triumphing in Lavarone on Wednesday (25 May) as Olympic champion Richard Carapaz retained the leader's pink jersey.
After crashing mid-way through the race, the 22-year-old from the Bahrain Victorious team showed all his superior climbing skills on the last ascent of the day up to Monterovere: he first caught Mathieu van der Poel (Fenix-Alpecin) and then opened a gap on Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma) as they approached the summit of the climb.
In the final 3km descent the Colombian didn't surrender his lead and finished 35 seconds ahead of Leemreize.
"I feel very excited and emotional, it’s my first Giro. My team, my family and girlfriend have been supporting me for the last 17 days and this is for them. I’m really happy," said Buitrago, who ended Sunday's stage in tears after finishing second.
"I needed to have a cold head, cold blood on the last climb. I knew van der Poel and the rider from Jumbo-Visma were ahead one minute and 30 seconds. I felt I had the legs and I wanted to try and I went for it. I also knew that I had to go on my own to try and win this stage."
2022 Giro d'Italia: Stage 17 Results - Wednesday 25 May
- Santiago Buitrago (Colombia) Bahrain-Victorious 4:27:41
- Gijs Leemreize (Netherlands) Jumbo-Visma +0:35
- Jan Hirt (Czech Republic) Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux +2:28
- Hugh Carthy (Great Britain) EF Education-EasyPost +2:28
- Richard Carapaz (Ecuador) INEOS Grenadiers +2:53
Overall leader Carapaz of Ecuador (Ineos-Grenadiers) finished fifth to defend his three-second lead over Jai Hindley (BORA-Hansgrohe) in the general classification.
"It's been a really hard stage. I think we're happy - every day everything is being defined more, everything is clearing up in the GC and I'm happy to have the jersey another day," the 2019 winner said.
In an entertaining stage for GC contenders, Buitrago's teammate Mikel Landa overtook Joao Almeida to move into third place in the overall standings, while Simon Yates abandoned the race after being dropped from the peloton.
On Thursday (26 May) sprinters will have the last chance to reclaim the limelight as the peloton takes on a 152km flat stage from Borgo Valsugana to Treviso.
Giro d'Italia 2022: General Classification standings after Stage 17
- Richard Carapaz (Ecuador) INEOS Grenadiers
- Jai Hindley (Australia) BORA-Hansgrohe +0:03
- Mikel Landa (Spain) Bahrain-Victorious +1:05
- Joao Almeida (Portugal) UAE Team Emirates +1:54
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) Astana Kazakstan Team +5:48
Giro d'Italia race schedule in 2022
The 2022 Giro began on Friday 6th May 2022, and will conclude on 29th May.
6 May: Stage 1 - Budapest-Visegrad (195 km) - Won by Mathieu van der Poel, who claims overall lead.
7 May: Stage 2 - Budapest-Budapest (Time trial, 9.2km) - Won by Simon Yates. Mathieu van der Poel remains overall leader.
8 May: Stage 3 - Kaposvar-Belatonfured (201 km) - Won by Mark Cavendish. Mathieu van der Poel remains overall leader.
9 May: Rest day
10 May: Stage 4 - Avola-Etna (166 km) - Won by Lennard Kamna, Juan Pedro Lopez claims overall lead.
11 May: Stage 5 - Catania-Messina (172 km) - Won by Arnaud Demare, Juan Pedro Lopez remains overall leader.
12 May: Stage 6 - Palmi-Scalea (192 km) - Won by Arnaud Demare, Juan Pedro Lopez remains overall leader.
13 May: Stage 7 - Diamante-Potenza (198 km) - Won by Koen Bouwman, Juan Pedro Lopez remains overall leader.
14 May: Stage 8 - Napoli-Napoli (149 km) - Won by Thomas de Gendt. Juan Pedro Lopez remains overall leader.
15 May: Stage 9 - Isernia-Blockhaus (187 km) - Won by Jai Hindley. Juan Pedro Lopez remains overall leader.
16 May: rest day
17 May: Stage 10 - Pescara-Jesi (194 km) - Won by Biniam Girmay. Juan Pedro Lopez remains overall leader.
18 May: Stage 11 - Santarcangelo di Romagna-Reggio Emilia (201 km) - Won by Alberto Dainese. Juan Pedro Lopez remains overall leader.
19 May: Stage 12 - Parma-Genova (186 km) - Won by Stefano Oldani. Juan Pedro Lopez remains overall leader.
20 May: Stage 13 - Sanremo-Cuneo (157 km) - Won by Arnaud Demare. Juan Pedro Lopez remains overall leader.
21 May: Stage 14 - Santena-Torino (153 km) - Won by Simon Yates. Richard Carapaz claims overall lead.
22 May: Stage 15 - Rivarolo Canavese-Cogne - Won by Giulio Ciccone. Richard Carapaz remains overall leader.
23 May: rest day
24 May: Salo-Aprica (193 km) - Won by Jan Hirt. Richard Carapaz remains overall leader.
25 May: Ponte di Legno-Lavarone (165 km)
26 May: Borgo Valsugana-Treviso (146 km)
27 May: Marano Lagunare-Santuario di Castelmonte (178 km)
28 May: Belluno-Marmolada (Passo Fedala)
29 May: Verona-Verona (Time trial, 17.1km)
How to watch Giro d'Italia 2022
Every stage of the race is filmed and made available for live TV coverage and streaming via local broadcast partners in different regions.
In Europe, this is via Eurosport and Discovery+, with RAI Sport in Italy showing the coverage for viewers in the host nation. GCN+ in USA/Canada, SBS TV in Australia, and BeIN Sports are other major broadcasters offering television and livestream coverage.
Full details of broadcasting and race updates are also on the official giroditalia.it website.