Giovanni Visconti wins stage, Vincenzo Nibali still leading

GIOVANNI Visconti won the 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia to claim another solo victory, while Vincenzo Nibali maintained the overall lead.

Italy Cycling Giro

GIOVANNI Visconti won the 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia to claim another solo victory, while Vincenzo Nibali maintained the overall lead.

Visconti, who also won Sunday's 15th stage with an impressive solo climb, attacked near the top of the Crosara to triumph in a time of 5 hours, 15 minutes, 34 seconds along the mainly flat 214km from Caravaggio to Vicenza.

Ramunas Navardauskas led a bunch over the line to finish second, 19 seconds behind Visconti. Luka Mezgec was third. Navardauskas raised his arms in celebration as he crossed the line, possibly thinking he'd won the stage.

It is Movistar's third stage victory in a row and fourth in this year's Giro.

Nibali, who finished third and second in his last two Giro races, maintained his lead of 1:26 over Cadel Evans and remains on course to win his country's biggest cycling race for the first time.

There was a very early break of four riders as Maxim Belkov, Miguel Rubiano, Gert Dockx and Luke Durbridge set the pace in the first kilometre, building a lead of about 5 minutes despite the peloton's increased pace.

Driven by Omega Pharma - which was hoping for a fifth win in this year's race for Mark Cavendish - the peloton went even faster and the gap started to drop rapidly on the narrow, winding roads before the start of the category-4 climb.

Belkov dropped back, and the remaining trio led by a minute as they started up the Crosara.

Durbridge, who at 22 is the youngest rider in the Giro, struggled on the climb and was soon passed by Danilo Di Luca. The Italian also overtook Dockx and caught up to Rubiano as Visconti took off in pursuit to catch up with the two leaders.

Visconti and Rubiano pulled clear before the former attacked on the top of the climb to build a lead of 30 seconds on the descent to the final flat kilometres.

There was a series of attacks from the peloton but a lack of cohesion in the group enabled Visconti to maintain his advantage.

The Italian kept looked behind as he pedaled furiously, and it almost went horribly wrong when he came close to slipping off his bike on a tight turn with two kilometers remaining.

Thursday's 18th stage is the first of three more mountain legs, a 20.6-kilometer (12.8-miles) time trial from Mori to Polsa.

The Giro ends May 26 in Brescia.