Grinta

It means grit. Or determination. And it's always displayed on Stage 17. That's what happened in 2006 with the Honorary Captain at the Tour. And that's what Gianni demonstrated today, albeit in a more vicarious fashion. With 255 points from Hondo, Efimkin, and Konovalovas on today's not-so-easy "transitional" stage, he becomes the 17th different winner of the 2010 FGBC Giro d'Italia Pool. Queen Val demonstrated some grinta of her own. She had 195 points to finish second, inching ever closer to Dallas. And the divisive one rounded out the podium, with 185 points. He isn't really inching towards any destination worthy of note. But a top 20 placing seems a little more likely after today. We can always hope. There are, after all, Challenge points at stake here. So one mustn't scoff at those of us who scrap for the minor placings.

Dallas continues to lead the overall race. But Val and Jonah have switched places once again. Val is back in second. And Jonah, despite a goose egg on the day, managed to hold onto the final podium spot. There is a pretty fierce four-way battle for third place shaping up. Jonah, Greg, Dan, and Adam are all within 67 points.

Full results and overall standings here.

Those lucky few who have sprinters left in the race have a chance to make up some ground tomorrow. After that, it's back to the mountains before the ITT on the final day.