Stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia headed deep into the Dolomites for the toughest day of racing so far which saw a major shake-up in the general classification. Here are more pictures from RoadCyclingUK’s man on the motorbike, Stefano Serotti.

Not a bad day to be in the helicopter…

The stage was the first of three epic days in the Dolomites (with a sprint stage in between) and took full advantage of the region’s epic landscape.

Vacansoleil-DCM’s Gustav Larsson gets in a tangle.

Ivan Basso’s Liquigas-Cannondale squad set a blistering pace to the foot of the Passio Giau.

That blew the lead group apart, leaving six riders – Scarponi, Hesjedal, Basso, Pozzovivo, Rodriguez and Uran – to forge a path up the 2,236m mountain pass.

Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) were dropped with less than 1km to the summit but bridged the gap on the subsequent descent – and it was race leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) who won the sprint finish in Cortina d’Ampezzo.