Georg Steinhauser solos to stage 17 victory as Tadej Pogacar stretches lead in Giro d’Italia

Pogacar, who took his fifth win of this year's race on stage 16, was hunting down the German but the finish line came in time for Steinhauser, who wrapped up his first win, just three days after finishing third on Stage 15.

Leader Pogacar crossed the finish line second and 1 minute 24 seconds behind Steinhauser but extended his lead at at the top of the standings to nearly eight minutes as the Slovenian draws closer to a maiden Giro victory.

Italian Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) finished fourth ahead of Geraint Thomas, Dani Martinez, Einer Rubio and Romain Bardet but the Bahrain Victorious rider stays marginally behind Ben O'Connor in the general classification after the Australian lost time from Selva di Val Gardena to Passo Brocon.

Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier of Lidl-Trek set the early pace but the aggressive Steinhauser soon caught up with the Eritrean to burst clear with 50km to go and take his place at the top of the podium.

After tackling 4,000m of elevation in 159km as a maiden winner, Steinhauser said: "It's something unbelievable. Already on stage eight I noticed that I had good legs - maybe the legs to win a stage.

"The queen stage (stage 15) was an unbelievable day. I could already be happy with (my third place on) the queen stage at this Giro.

"So I went from the beginning in the break. It was a bit strange because we got caught by the peloton. But at one moment I thought I had to try again - and I did, and it worked out.

"I heard on the radio (about Pogacar). I was super nervous on the last climb.

"I knew I had to push all the way to the finish. I heard at one point that he was attacking, but it was already two kilometres to go, so I thought I would make it."

Thursday's stage 18 is a flat contest from Fiera di Premiero to Padova.