Pellizzari takes Vuelta stage 17 honours

AFP | London

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Italy’s Giulio Pellizzari upstaged the big guns in yesterday’s Vuelta a Espana 17th stage as Jonas Vingegaard retained the leader’s red jersey.

The 21-year-old celebrated the biggest day of his career, crossing the Alto de El Morredero summit finish 16sec clear of Briton Tom Pidcock.

Pellizzari’s Australian Red Bull Bora teammate Jai Hindley took third ahead of Vingegaard.

Danish race favourite Vingegaard goes into Thursday’s time-trial with a 50sec cushion in the general classification over Joao Almeida, who finished the stage in fifth.

The leaders cancelled each other out on the scorched slopes of Alto de El Morredero after a gruelling 143.2km ride from El Barco de Valdeorras, with Pellizzari seizing his chance.

Thursday’s 18th stage is a 27.2km individual time-trial around Valladolid with the race finishing on Sunday in Madrid amid heightened security after disruption to one of cycling’s big three races by pro-Palestinian protests.