George Bennett has safely navigated through this morning's sprint stage at the Giro d'Italia as the race heads to the mountains for the decisive final stages.
Bennett lost no time on a fast-paced stage 17, finishing in 38th place, with Elia Viviani winning his fourth stage to put a viceon the purple sprinter's jersey.
It was a stage which was busy throughout, with attackers trying their luck for the entirety of the 155km route, but none of them gaining too much of an advantage due to the high chasing speed from the peloton.
Bar a brief split early in the stage, none of the general classification contenders were in trouble of losing any time on the flat, with the top 10 staying stagnant; Bennett remaining 7.01 down on leader Simon Yates.
Viviani again timed his sprint excellently to take the stage victory in a tricky finale made worse by some bizarre weather. With three kilometres to go, the weather was pristine, but a few tight corners and roundabouts later it was suddenly bucketing down with rain at the finish line.
As all the general classification riders avoided the potential for calamity, the sprinters set off, their wheels spraying water all over the road. However, as he had done three times before, Viviani showed that he's the best sprinter at the Giro by roaring past to edge out Sam Bennett for stage honours.
The first of three crucial stages starts tomorrow, with stage 18 flat for the first 130 kilometres before slowly trending uphill, including the final 13 kilometres at reasonably tricky gradients.
There theoretically shouldn't be major time gaps on the stage, but with plenty of riders desperate to make back time, it could lead to some fireworks near the end.
Niall Anderson is covering every stage of the Giro d'Italia live for the Herald. He is battling sickness but would prefer it if you stopped calling him a hero.
