New Zealander Sam Bewley was ORICA-GreenEDGE’s top finisher as the Giro d’Italia visited Switzerland for a stage 17 finish in Lugano today.

Bewley finished in the first large group (41st) behind the sprint victory of Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) as a fast decent in the finale split the bunch behind.

After the effort that was yesterday’s queen stage, today’s stage was more textbook as a small three-man break was controlled and proceedings always looked like coming down to a sprint.

“We were prepared for the worst at the start because that has been the trend of this year’s Giro,” sport director Matt White said.

“But rather than the resistance we’ve seen, the first attack of the day was the breakaway. A couple of guys tried to join too late and gave up, and it was a pretty steady tempo chasing them all day.

“Once again they didn’t give the break much time and then it got nervous around the lake. The roads were narrow and there were very gusty wind conditions today, which made it even more nervous.

“We were going to try for Brett Lancaster but he wasn’t able to get up the final climb into the finale and the peloton didn’t allow the guys who were there to launch anything off the front.”