LottoNL-Jumbo’s Martijn Keizer attacked and made the winning escape in the 17th stage of the Giro d’Italia to Canazei today. They worked to gain a large gap, but Pierre Rolland took advantage and won the stage. Tom Dumoulin remains the pink jersey leader. Steven Kruijswijk sits ninth overall.

"It was mostly wasted energy," said Keizer. "It’s bad that this does not end in a good result after such a day in the escape."

The 40-man escape was too big and cumbersome. They gained 14 minutes at one point.

"There were too many teams with two or more riders, which ensures that a single rider does not have to ride while the teams with more riders do not want to ride with everyone.

“Our group broke in two pieces and I moved with the first part. From then on, it went well. Our group was smaller and there were fewer couples, but on the third category climb, everything came together again.

“After the groups came together, riders continuously attacked. Sometimes you are in front and sometimes not. When the final group was gone, unfortunately I wasn’t there. That's bad."

"It was certainly not our plan to attack today, but if there is such a large group in the attack, then you had to be there,” sports director Addy Engels said.

“It was a long and difficult day" and team LottoNL-Jumbo needed some men in the front.

"We worked for Kruijswijk during the whole Giro, so it's logical to protect your place in the GC. But with the difficult days that come, it's no problem to let riders overtake Kruijswijk with a minute, but giving men more than a minute is too much."

The race continues in the Dolomites tomorrow. Stage 18 features several passes at 2000 metres.

"The start is mostly uphill, and we could see a big fight from the gun among the GC riders. We’ll climb the famous climbs like the Pordoi and the Valparola. It's going to be a hard day."