Giro d'Italia 2013 Standings: Stage 17 Results, Leaderboard and Analysis

Italy's Giovanni Visconti won Stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday, powering past the pack late on a challenging climb to win his second stage of the event (via BBC Sport):

Visconti, who also won Stage 15 on Sunday, overcame a late mistake that nearly cost him the lead. Leading by just a few seconds toward the finish, he misjudged a turn and nearly fell off his bike.

Credit a brilliant recovery for his second stage victory in a span of four days (via Giro d'Italia on Twitter):

Wednesday's Stage 17 featured a 214-kilometer ride from Caravaggio to Vicenza. The stage is one highlighted by flat terrain, but capped off with a climb just 16 kilometers out from the finish.

Cycling Weekly's Nick Bull tweeted this photo, which previews a unique "pinch point" that riders had to deal with toward the finish of Stage 17:

The late climb in Wednesday's stage was thought to be a pivotal moment before the riders arrived at the point, and sure enough, it was.

Visconti proved unbeatable late, muscling his way through and eventually ahead of the pack to take an insurmountable lead down the stretch. 

Stage 17 Results

Finish	Cyclist	Country	Time
1	Giovanni Visconti	Italy	5:15:34
2	Ramūnas Navardauskas	Lithuania	+0:19
3	Luka Mezgec	Slovenia	+0:19
4	Filippo Pozzato	Italy	+0:19
5	Danilo Honda	Germany	+0:19
6	Salvatore Puccio	Italy	+0:19
7	Sacha Modolo	Italy	+0:19
8	Fabio Felline	Italy	+0:19
9	Francisco Ventoso	Spain	+0:19
10	Cadel Evans	Australia	+0:19

To view the complete Stage 17 results, visit the race's official website.

Stage 17 Route

Overall Leaderboard

Place	Cyclist	Team	Country	Time
1	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana	Italy	73:11:29
2	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing	Australia	+0:01:26
3	Rigoberto Uran Uran	Sky Procycling	Colombia	+0:02:46
4	Michele Scarponi	Lampre-Merida	Italy	+0:03:53
5	Przemyslaw Niemiec	Lampre-Merida	IPoland	+0:04:13
6	Mauro Santambrogio	Vini Fantini/SelleItalia	Italy	+0:04:57
7	Carlos Betancur	AG2R	Colombia	+0:05:15
8	Rafal Majka	Saxo-Tinkoff	Poland	+0:05:20
9	Benat Intxausti	Movistar	Spain	+0:05:47
10	Robert Gesink	Blanco	Netherlands	+0:07:24

To view the complete standings, visit the race's official website.

Recap and Analysis

It looked to be anyone's stage for the majority of Wednesday's ride before Italy's own Giovanni Visconti took over late, demonstrating an unrivaled combination of stamina and power to ride across the finish line first with his hands high above his head.

Points competition leader Mark Cavendish looked extremely disappointed with his finish in Stage 17 as he crossed the line, but was still able to maintain his points lead despite a shaky effort though the climb.

There's still plenty of reason to believe he'll be a contender over the next few days.

Overall, Wednesday's stage was uneventful with Visconti's late surge stealing the show and capping off a rather forgettable day of racing, as the flat terrain offered few challenges for the riders for the most part.

With only four stages left to race, however, including a pair of mountain stages on Friday and Saturday, the action is sure to heat up as riders will have very little room for error moving forward. 

Follow Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Patrick Clarke on Twitter.