Sacha Modolo takes second Giro d'Italia win in stage 17

Modolo, 27, benefited from an expert lead-out from two team-mates before holding off a late challenge from compatriot Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) and Slovenia's Luka Mezgec (Giant-Alpecin) in the shortest stage of the 98th edition of the race.

Victory in the largely flat 134km ride from Tirano was Lampre-Merida's fourth of the race after earlier victories for Modolo, Poland's Jan Polanc and Italian Diego Ulissi.

Despite missing out on a maiden win, 26-year-old Nizzolo took the red points jersey off the shoulders of Team Sky's Elia Viviani, who could only muster eleventh place in the final sprint.

Spain's Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) finished safely in the pack to retain his 4:02 lead over compatriot Mikel Landa (Astana) in the battle for the pink jersey.

THREE-MAN BREAK: With the sun shining down on the peloton for the first time in over a week, Italy’s Marco Bandiera (Androni-Sidemec) and Belgian Iljo Keisse (Etixx-QuickStep) celebrated with an early attack just 2km into the stage.

Grand Tour debutant Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini) soon joined the escapees ahead of the only categorised climb of the day, the Cat.3 ascent to Tieglo.

The trio crested the summit with more than two minutes on the peloton while two riders – Davide Villella (Cannondale-Garmin) and Maciej Paterski (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) – attempted to bridge the gap.

With the chasers unsuccessful in making the connection, Bandiera, Keisse and Berlato combined with the resignation of any faction knowing, deep down, that their chances were very slim.

And indeed, moments after the road left the banks of shimmering Lake Como and headed towards two hills ahead of the downhill run into picturesque Lugano, the trio were reeled in by the peloton inside the final 30km.

COUNTER-ATTACKS: Germany’s Patrick Gretsch (Ag2R-La Mondiale) and Australian Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) opened up a gap on the Tinkoff-Saxo-led peloton on the first of two uncategorised hills. They were soon joined by Colombian Darwin Atapuma (BMC) before Hansen soloed clear on the descent.

Hansen, riding his eleventh consecutive Grand Tour, could not steal more than 20 seconds over the pack and was eventually caught near the Swiss border with 10km remaining.

Dutchman Tom Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin) and Belgian Philippe Gilbert (BMC) both attacked on the final hillock before Italian veteran Luca Paolini (Katusha) swallowed them up on the descent and opened up a small gap on the fast and technical Poggio-esque ride down into Lugano.

But Paolini himself was reeled in by a splintered pack just ahead of the final kilometre banner to set the scene perfectly for a bunch sprint of sorts.

MODOLO MIGHT: If most of the sprinters had lost their lead-out men in the frantic descent to the quaint lake-side finish town, the same could not be said of Modolo.

Lampre-Merida had clearly done their homework as their man was expertly guided through the final tight bends by two men before being launched to the line to take his second win of the race.

Mezgec – whose Giant-Alpecin team had done much of the tempo-setting on the front of the peloton during the short and fast stage – looked to be coming up the outside with intent, but the bearded Slovenian faded before being pipped by Nizzolo for second place.

Having traded blows with Viviani in both intermediate sprints, Nizzolo’s haul at the finish saw him move into the red points jersey with just the race’s final stage to Milan as a realistic remaining scene for a resumption of the battle.

Nizzolo now leads Modolo by 17 points as Viviani dropped to third place 25 points behind.

As for the battle for the maglia rosa, it was a rare day off for Messrs Contador, Landa and Fabio Aru, whose own tussle will resume on Thursday with the 170km stage 18 from Melide to Verbania, which features the Cat.1 Monte Ologno ahead of a downhill ride to the finish.