Mathieu Van der Pol never let up in his fight for a second Giro d'Italia stage win, but his gutsy run in the Dolomites at Alpecin Phoenix went unrewarded once again on Wednesday. In the mountain stage from Ponti del Legno to Lavarone, Van der Pol first went into a solo breakaway with 65 kilometers to go, and on the second and final climb, the Varico del Vitriolo, he escaped with fellow Dutchman Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo Visma) The team was led by the Dutchman, Gijs Leemreize. The Alpecin Phoenix rider pulled away from Leemreize on the dreaded 10% slope of Monterovere. With the lead reaching double digits at one point, it looked as if the talented all-rounder was going to get his long-awaited victory at the Giro d'Italia.

Instead, Reamrise first regained the 27-year-old's lead midway up the climb, then dropped him, followed a few minutes later by the final stage winner, Colombian Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorias).

Van der Pol was finally swallowed by the pink jersey group as they rounded the final right-hand bend. Even in the last few meters, the Dutchman could not keep up with the group and finished a few seconds behind in 12th place.

Van der Pol, who won the Hungarian uphill finish and led the race to Mount Etna on stage 4, had a story of his own in the second half of the Giro, repeatedly trying to take stage 2.

On stage 7, after a day-long breakaway on the grueling Naples circuit, Van der Poel was isolated after failing to outpace Thomas De Gendt and the Lotto-Soudal team, and on the following stage 10, a fierce sprint battle in Jesi, he was beaten by Biniam Girmay ( Intermarché Wanty-Gaubert Materieux) in a fierce sprint in Jessy. Then, on stage 15, in the Alps at Cogne, Van der Pol was part of the 28-man breakaway that decided the stage, forming a three-man group from the first climb of Pila-les-Fleurs.

His most recent opportunity came on stage 17, the second day in the Eastern Alps. Van der Pol took part in his second counterattack of the day, eventually joining a group of 24 in total.

With about 65 km to go, his first move was on the relentlessly undulating mid-stage section before Passo del Vertiolo, one of the last two section climbs of the day. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates), and Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroen) were the final three riders to bridge the gap, but despite a long turn at the front by Van der Pol, the four-man lead was not enough to guarantee victory The lead of these four was not enough to guarantee victory.

Van der Pol is now looking to win four stages in the Giro d'Italia, starting with Thursday's nearly flat stage from Borgo Valsugana to Treviso.