razzi followed and caught the Belgian cyclist near the summ

VITTORIO VENETO, Italy -- Stefano Pirazzi won the 17th stage of the Giro dItalia on Wednesday, the first professional victory of his career while Nairo Quintana retained the overall leaders pink jersey. Pirazzi made an obscene arm gesture as he crossed the finish line and was reduced to tears following his win. "It wasnt a nice gesture, Im sorry, forgive me," Pirazzi said. "But its been five years of anger, five years of criticism. As the days went by, my moral was going down. I was here to get this victory finally, that was the target. "I was unleashing all that. Five years of criticism is a lot for a young guy. I really had to deal with a lot. Today I reached a goal that I wanted since I was a young boy watching the Giro. Im very happy. Ill enjoy it and never forget this moment." Pirazzi, who had led from the breakaway, made his move with little more than a kilometre remaining and edged out Tim Wellens and Jay McCarthy in a sprint at the end of the 204-kilometre (127-mile) stage from Sarnonico to Vittorio Veneto. The peloton crossed the line 15:36 behind Pirazzi as the top overall standings were unchanged. Quintana remained 1:41 ahead of fellow Colombian Rigoberto Uran and 3:21 ahead of Cadel Evans, with Pierre Rolland only five seconds further back. Victorias Ryder Hesjedal, the 2012 Giro champion, finished 33rd in Wednesdays stage and was in ninth overall, 4:16 back of Quintana. Svein Tuft of Langley, B.C., was in 158th after finishing 144th in stage 17. Quintana had moved into pink after Tuesdays tough leg, which was marred by confusion after some teams believed part of the route had been neutralized -- meaning the times for that section wouldnt count. "In reality there is no controversy," Quintana said. "I know what happened. Theyre creating a story which isnt there. "It would be unjust (if they took time away from me). The organization said the race wasnt neutralized so why remove an advantage that I won?" The peloton remained together for almost half the route before a group of 26 riders managed to get away. After the previous tough stage -- where the cyclists had to deal not only with both the legendary Gavia and Stelvio climbs, but with snow and rain as well -- the peloton was happy to keep a steady pace and let the escape go. The best-placed rider in the break was Damiano Cunego, who was more than 48 minutes behind Quintana, and so the pink jersey group allowed the gap to go out to more than 12 minutes. Thomas De Gendt attacked from the breakaway on the approach to the last of three classified climbs, the ascent up the Muro di Ca del Poggio. Pirazzi followed and caught the Belgian cyclist near the summit, and they were soon joined by Wellens, McCarthy and Matteo Montaguti. 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