Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) entered the final week of the Giro d'Italia knowing he had three chances to regain his 17-second lead over Joao Almeida (Detunink-Quickstep). the first, Madonna di Campiglio, passed on Wednesday afternoon, the third stage (stage 20) was shortened thanks to the removal of Agnello and Izod from the route.

Thursday's Tappone from Stelvio to Laghi di Cancano will likely define Kelderman's Giro challenge. If he does not succeed in shaking off Almeida there and winning the Maria Rosa, the terrain may not be at his disposal this weekend. The Sestriere climb is shallower than the climbs excluded from the route, and Almeida can also count on the final 15km time trial in Milan on Sunday. In other words, it's Stelvio or bust for Kelderman. ......

"Certainly tomorrow is important. Every day matters. We are not finished yet," Kelderman said after the 17th stage at Madonna di Campiglio.

Kelderman was the favorite to win the overall on Sunday in Piancavallo, but his Sunweb team (especially Jai Hindley) squared up the GC contenders on the final climb, cutting Almeida's advantage to a few seconds.

On Wednesday's Madonna di Campiglio, however, a two-man attack by Kelderman and Hindley with just under 6km to go was unable to put Almeida away. First, Hindley accelerated, creating a small gap to the pink jersey group. But when Kelderman looked around, he saw that Almeida was behind Kelderman. Kelderman, along with Almeida and the other podium contenders, finished the stage five minutes behind stage winner Ben O'Connor. Stalemate.

"I tried to force something to close the gap to Almeida, but the climb wasn't hard enough and Almeida was strong, so it was hard to try anything," Kelderman said.

"On the one hand, I was secretly hoping for something more. On the other hand, I had a good feeling in the legs, so that was good. I was hoping I could have gotten the pink jersey, but the climb wasn't too hard."

"I was hoping to get the pink jersey, but it wasn't too hard,"

"I was hoping to get the pink jersey.

Shortly after Sunweb's attack, Almeida was seen speaking briefly to Kelderman in a gesture. Maria Rosa said afterward that she told Kelderman that he had no teammates to set the pace except for Fausto Masnada. Kelderman, for his part, said he could not hear what Almeida was trying to say.

"I don't know what he said. Maybe he said, 'You can't even try. I don't remember," Kelderman said, adding that he and Hindley communicated without words during the brief attack. '[The idea was] to open the gas pedal all the way up and see what was going on. When the gas pedal is at full throttle, there's not much to talk about on the climb."

Hindley will start Thursday's stage in third place overall, 2:58 behind Almeida. His acceleration in Madonna di Campiglio may have foreshadowed what the team plans to do in Tappone, but it remains to be seen how Sunweb will use the Australian in Stelvio and Laghi di Cancano.

"The reason we went to Madonna di Campiglio was to test what the other competitors were like. Sunweb sport director Luke Roberts said. 'It was hard to make a difference. In the end, the GC battle was like checkmate. Tomorrow there will be a bigger gap."