Roger Kluge (IAM Cycling) caused an upset on a rare day for the sprinters in the back-end of the 2016 Giro d’Italia, after he made a solo attack within the final 500m of stage 17 to take the victory.
Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) retained his lead in the overall standings after finishing safely within the main bunch that followed in behind.
Kluge’s win comes in a week which saw his IAM team announce they wouldn’t continue after the end of the 2016 season and is their first WorldTour victory this year and a first ever Grand Tour stage win.
As the peloton entered the final kilometre together, it looked as though veteran Italian Filippo Pozzato (Wilier-South East) would be the one to claim the solo victory after he attacked shortly after the flamme rouge and gained 100m or so advantage.
But as he began to be dragged back closer to the peloton by the sprinter’s teams, German Kluge made his move and quickly caught and passed Pozzato with a powerful ride.
As the sprint trains desperately tried to pull him back and the fast men launched their attacks, it was all too late as Kluge was able to sit-up and roll across the line in celebration.
Read more at Cycling Weekly.