Pirazzi and Quintana go it alone

Stefano Pirazzi cried tears of joy after winning his first Grand Tour stage in his home race yesterday, but behind him arguments still raged after Tuesday’s controversial Giro d’Italia stage put Nairo Quintana in the pink jersey of race leader.

The Bardiani rider, who won the mountains classification last year, sprinted clear a kilometre from home to beat Tim Wellens, Jay McCarthy, Thomas De Gendt and Matteo Montaguti to the line, with the five riders leading home a large breakaway who had built up a huge advantage over the main group of contenders.

With wet roads creating plenty of risk on the largely flat stage from Sarnonico to Vittorio Veneto, the peloton — containing Ireland’s Philip Deignan, were content to roll home a little over 15-and-a-half minutes behind the breakaway, but the calmness of the racing belied the mood of several teams after the events of Tuesday’s stage 16.