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Michael Valgren powered to the most significant win of his long career Wednesday at the Giro d’Italia.
The Danish veteran emerged out of a hot mess of attacks from the breakaway group on stage 16 to take his biggest victory since his career nearly ended in 2022.
Valgren destroyed his hip and pelvis in a terrible crash at the Route d’Occitanie and spent close to a year on the sidelines.
His injuries were so severe that he chose to race with the EF devo team through 2023 to race himself back to full fitness and confidence.
The 34-year-old said at the finish Wednesday a first grand tour win was the missing part of a small but stellar palmarès that includes wins at Amstel Gold Race and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
“I missed this on my resume. I think I deserve this,” he said. “My career is pretty good but I needed this grand tour stage win. Luckily it came today.”
It was also a crucial win for EF Education-EasyPost on Wednesday. The U.S. based team has been out of the picture all through the season and barely factored in this Giro d’Italia.
This was just the third win of the season for Jonathan Vaughters’ WorldTour team.
Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) came to the line second and third in Andalo after Valgren launched an all-out attack from the break with one kilometer to go.
Valgren crossed the line defiantly waving a green Pokemon.
“Last year I had high hopes for a good stage in the Tour so my son gave me a Pokemon in our team colors,” he said. “This is my lucky charm.”
Race-leader Jonas Vingegaard enjoyed an armchair ride Wednesday ahead of two huge days in the mountains on Friday and Saturday.
Visma-Lease a Bike controlled the peloton all day and kept Vingegaard and his closest rivals together before they crossed the line as one, 5 minutes back on Valgren.
There were no significant changes in classification in what was an informal day off for the GC racers.
Valgren doesn’t miss in one of last chances for the break
Wednesday’s grueling 202km stage went uphill nearly all day and sneakily amassed 3,300 meters of elevation gain despite the lack of any single severe climb.
It was a parcours built perfectly for the break – and the attackers took note.
This 17th stage and maybe stage 18 on Thursday might be their last chance at a stage-win before they stop their head units in Rome.
The fight for the break was predictably fierce.
It took around two hours of relentless racing before two large groups came together.
All the usual suspects were in what worked out to be the stage’s winning move. Top attackers like Giulio Ciccone, Jhonatan Narváez, and Igor Arrieta joined Valgren and Rubio in the 29 rider attack.
The break took more than 5 minutes of a gap as Visma-Lease a Bike shut down the race.
The long, grueling stage entered its endgame at around 40km to go when the break split into two groups on a short ramp.
Pre-stage favorite Narváez was caught in the group behind and attacked relentlessly to try to bridge across as he hunted a fourth stage win.
But the lead group of 9 had other plans.
Damiano Caruso, Einer Rubio and Arrieta piled on with a flurry of attacks. Rubio got away with Michael Valgren on his wheel at 15km to go and it looked like the stage would come down to a sprint a deux.
But the attack faltered as Valgren leaned on Rubio to do the work, and four riders came across.
This time, Valgren didn’t wait. The Dane launched out of the group inside the final kilometer and piled to the line for an emotional comeback win.
Giro d’Italia stage 17 results
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