Alberto Dainese edges thrilling sprint finish to win Stage 17 of Giro d'Italia

Alberto Dainese won a thrilling sprint finish to win Stage 17 of Giro d'Italia on Wednesday as UAE Team Emirates rider Joao Almeida maintained his second place in the overall standings.

Team DSM rider Dainese held off Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) in a mass sprint to prevail by a few centimetres, with Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) taking third place.

Briton Mark Cavendish, who announced on Monday that he will end his 17-year career as a professional cyclist at the conclusion of the season, also appeared to be in contention for the stage win, but faded in the final kilometre.

“This is insane,” said Dainese. “The first sprint didn't go as planned. We did a good job but we never really had a good result to show how good we did the final. Today we did an insane final.

“Marius [Mayrhofer] did a super job, and Niklas [Markl] also to finish it off. When it started I was a bit overtaken by the guys on the left, so I had to squeeze and try to catch Matthews.

“In the last metres, I was really digging so deep. I was really on the limit and I saw Johnny coming. I couldn't throw my bike because I was really on the limit but it's nice to get a few centimetres in front and get the win.