Giro D'Italia 2015: Stage 17 Results, Overall Standings and Highlights

Sacha Modolo won Stage 17 of the 2015 Giro d'Italia, a bunch sprint just across the Swiss border that was never going to make an impact on the standings.

Sandwiched in between high mountain stages, Wednesday's stage gave the top contenders for the maglia rosa a chance to gather their strength as the sprinters battled it out for the red jersey.

Here are the top finishers from Wednesday's stage:

Rider (Nationality) Team	Time
1 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida	3:07:51
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing	Same Time
3 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Giant-Alpecin	Same Time
4 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling	Same Time
5 Davide Appollonio (Ita) Androni Giocattoli	Same Time
6 Stig Broeckx (Bel) Lotto Soudal	Same Time
7 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Movistar Team	Same Time
8 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha	Same Time
9 Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ.fr	Same Time
10 Nick Van Der Lijke (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo	Same Time

Team Sky shared the profile for Stage 17, which had all the looks of a sprint but featured a few late climbs that could alter proceedings:

Patrick Gretsch, Adam Hansen and Darwin Atapuma successfully launched an attack, and the experienced Gretsch and Hansen soon dropped Atapuma. The two worked well together, and Lotto Soudal were excited to see their veteran in the break:

Behind the leaders, the peloton were enjoying a nice, sunny day and didn't bother too much with attacking themselves. The sprint teams started pushing the tempo inside the final 25 kilometers, and the favourites for the maglia rosa might as well have taken the day off.

Hansen tried to go solo, per Etixx-Quick Step's official Twitter account, but he was caught just before the Swiss border:

Tom-Jelte Slagter launched an attack on the final climb of the day and was joined by Philippe Gilbert, and after an odd incident with one of the cameramen on motorbikes, the peloton suddenly started tearing apart. Luca Paolini tried his luck, but the Lampre train eventually caught up with him, setting up a mass sprint.

Elia Viviani tried to take advantage of the Lampre train, but the Italians executed their orders beautifully, setting up Modolo's win. Velocast's Scott O'Raw couldn't help but make a joke about the sprinter's riding style inside the final 200 meters:

Cycling journalist Mikkel Conde was more impressed with the work from his Lampre-Merida team-mates:

It was a quiet day for the teams riding for the general classification, a welcome change after the controversy that erupted on Tuesday. Oleg Tinkov, Tinkoff-Saxo's owner, took one last shot at his opponents in an interview with Cycling News:

Here's how the general classification looks:

Rider (Nationality) Team	Time
1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo	68:12:50
2 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana Pro Team	0:04:02
3 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team	0:04:52
4 Andrey Amador (Crc) Movistar Team	0:05:48
5 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Team Katusha	0:08:27
6 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky	0:09:31
7 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team	0:09:52
8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo	0:11:40
9 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr	0:12:48
10 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team	0:12:49

The sprinters may have taken the spotlight on Wednesday, but starting Thursday, all eyes will shift back to the favourites for the general classification. The next three stages will be absolutely brutal, starting with the Monte Ologno and culminating in the dreaded climb Sestriere on Saturday, which means passing over the Colle delle Finestre.

Alberto Contador remains the favourite for this year's maglia rosa, and he should feel right at home on the long, steep climbs that will litter the next three stages.

Mikel Landa is the only rider who has routinely kept up with his compatriot in the high mountains, but he's relatively inexperienced and faces a huge deficit in the standings.

The rest of the pack may resort to attacking fiercely on Thursday, but every ounce of energy the riders waste during Stage 18 will come back to haunt them on Saturday, when they face the daunting task of climbing Finestre.  

Follow @ReverschPass