Tejay van Garderen had a difficult start to the 2017 Giro d'Italia. He struggled on the early climbs and didn't perform as well as expected in the time trial, eliminating his GC hopes in the first two weeks of the tour. While he's endured a lot of questions about his fitness, he appears to have found his form in the third week of the Giro after winning Stage 18 on Thursday.

Van Garderen began riding more aggressively over the last couple stages. The BMC rider has gone on the attack in an effort to earn some type of positive result at the Giro. After a number of failed attempts, he was able to get into the main breakaway on Stage 18. It was a strong group that contained some big-name riders, including Philip Deignan (Team Sky), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Dario Cataldo (Astana Pro Team), Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), and Winner Anacona (Movistar).

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Heading into the final climb of the day, van Garderen was clearly motivated for the stage win. As he began to put more pressure on the remaining riders in the break, Landa was the only one who could keep the pace. The duo quickly rode off the front, and any other challenge for the stage would have to come from the pink jersey group. With the gap under a minute, a significant attack out of the GC contenders could quickly eat into the stage leaders' time gap.

Luckily for van Garderen and Landa, the chasers were focused more on their own games than bringing in the leading pair. Ilnur Zakarin, Vincenzo Nibali, Nairo Quintana, and Tom Dumoulin all made brief but unsuccessful moves. Strategic riding from the favorites played into the hands of the break. Finally, Thibaut Pinot and Domenico Pozzovivo managed to create some separation. Dumoulin was left to do all of the chasing on his own, attempting without success to get Nibali or Quintana to ride at the front.

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Seeing the opportunity, the group splintered with riders all attempting to earn back time on the podium. With the GC riders now fully engaged in distancing Dumoulin, Nibali, and Quintana, the gap was quickly closing to van Garderen and Landa. Thibaut and Pozzovivo were riding to within 10 seconds of the lead duo, but ultimately the gap would hold.

Stage 18 came down to a sprint between two riders who both had potential for high GC placement at the start of the 2017 Giro. Both saw those hopes fall apart, and now they both have been fighting to find success. Landa led into the final, but van Garderen surged past to outsprint the Spanish rider and win his first-ever grand tour stage.

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Stage 18 Results

Place	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team	3:54:04
2	Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky
3	Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ	0:00:08
4	Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
5	Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice	0:00:11
6	Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin	0:00:24
7	Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo	0:00:34
8	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
9	Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb	0:01:06
10	Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
11	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
12	Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott	0:01:12
13	Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ
14	Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team	0:01:48
15	Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
16	Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team	0:02:20
17	Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
18	Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale	0:03:06
19	Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors	0:03:55
20	Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
21	Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Bahrain-Merida	0:04:28
22	Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
23	Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac	0:04:48
24	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal	0:05:06
25	Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
26	Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Katusha-Alpecin	0:05:44
27	Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates	0:06:57
28	Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
29	Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky
30	Alexander Foliforov (Rus) Gazprom - Rusvelo
31	Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida	0:07:40
32	Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
33	Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale	0:08:44
34	Ruben Plaza (Spa) Orica-Scott
35	Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac	0:09:23
36	Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe	0:10:16
37	Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team	0:14:18
38	Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb	0:18:37
39	Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
40	Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team
41	Carlos Verona (Spa) Orica-Scott	0:18:48
42	Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
43	Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky
44	José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
45	Jose Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team	0:21:59
46	Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team	0:32:57
47	Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica-Scott
48	Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) FDJ
49	Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF
50	Cristian Rodriguez (Spa) Wilier Triestina
51	Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-Scott
52	Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Team Sunweb
53	Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
54	Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
55	Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
56	Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
57	Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
58	Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
59	Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
60	Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
61	Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
62	Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team
63	Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
64	Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
65	Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb
66	Felix Großschartner (Aut) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
67	Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ
68	Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ
69	Jan Tratnik (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
70	Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
71	Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
72	Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
73	Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
74	Jan Bárta (Cze) Bora-Hansgrohe
75	Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
76	Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
77	Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac
78	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
79	Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
80	Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
81	Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
82	Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
83	José Mendes (Por) Bora-Hansgrohe
84	Julen Amezqueta (Spa) Wilier Triestina
85	Jesper Hansen (Den) Astana Pro Team
86	Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
87	Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
88	Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
89	François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
90	Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
91	Martijn Keizer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
92	Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom - Rusvelo
93	Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
94	Omar Fraile (Spa) Dimension Data
95	Jose Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team
96	Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom - Rusvelo
97	Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom - Rusvelo
98	Aleksei Tcatevich (Rus) Gazprom - Rusvelo
99	Igor Anton (Spa) Dimension Data
100	Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
101	Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac
102	Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
103	Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Orica-Scott	0:33:09
104	Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team	0:35:55
105	Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Wilier Triestina
106	Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
107	Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
108	Giuseppe Fonzi (Ita) Wilier Triestina
109	Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
110	Simone Ponzi (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
111	Adam James Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
112	Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ
113	Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina
114	Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
115	Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
116	Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
117	Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data
118	Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ
119	Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal
120	Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
121	Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
122	Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
123	Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
124	Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb
125	Branislau Samoilau (Blr) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
126	Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom - Rusvelo
127	Pavel Brutt (Rus) Gazprom - Rusvelo
128	Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
129	Twan Castelijns (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
130	Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
131	Pieter Serry (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
132	Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
133	Alberto Losada (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
134	Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data
135	Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
136	Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
137	Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac
138	Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
139	Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
140	Francisco Ventoso (Spa) BMC Racing Team
141	Matej Mohoric (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
142	Svein Tuft (Can) Orica-Scott
143	Nicola Boem (Ita) Bardiani CSF
144	Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
145	Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
146	Mirco Maestri (Ita) Bardiani CSF
147	Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
148	Ilia Koshevoy (Blr) Wilier Triestina
149	Manuele Boaro (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
150	Johann Van Zyl (RSA) Dimension Data
151	Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Bardiani CSF
152	Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ
153	Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
154	Simone Andreetta (Ita) Bardiani CSF
155	Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
156	Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
157	Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors
158	Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Gazprom - Rusvelo
159	Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
160	Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF
161	Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
162	Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
163	Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
164	Matteo Busato (Ita) Wilier Triestina
165	Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
DNF	Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal