Stage 17 winner Michael Valgren on Pokémon lucky charms and an 'irritatingly strong' breakaway at the Giro d'Italia
CyclingThursday, 28 May 2026 at 09:07
Michael Valgren was missing a Grand Tour stage win from his palmarès, but that can now be added after stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia. The 34-year-old Dane of EF Education-EasyPost rode a superb race from the breakaway and in the final kilometre pulled clear of the rest. According to Valgren himself, it all came together thanks to his lucky charm.
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The ever-outspoken Dane suffered a hundred little deaths in the finale, but did everything right. When he was left in a group of six heading into the final kilometre, he took the last wheel and powered away. Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) could not come back to him. That allowed Valgren to pull a green disc from his pocket and hold it up for the crowd.
The first question in the flash interview was naturally: what exactly was Valgren showing at the finish? "Last year I had big hopes of winning a stage in the Tour de France. My son made a Pokémon disc for me and today that was my lucky charm," he laughed. A Grand Tour stage win had been missing from his record for quite some time.
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In the mixed zone, the stage winner also revealed that he does not always carry the bead-crafted green-and-pink disc with him. "I only bring it when I think I can win, and only in Grand Tours. Today I had it on me, and it worked".
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Valgren gets deserved stage win with a classic move
Valgren had already said before the Giro that he was going after stage success, and repeated the words he had spoken in Bulgaria: "This was missing from my palmarès. My career has been a good one, with wins in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Amstel Gold Race. But I needed this Grand Tour win, because I feel I deserved it. It is nice that it happened in Italy".
The fact that Valgren chose to attack in a group made up mainly of climbers was, in his view, only logical. "It is funny that people think I am fast, but I am really ridiculously slow, as my tests also show. If I have good legs, this is my move".
This proved to be exactly the right call, also because Valgren had played his cards close to his chest all day. "It was a perfect stage for me. It was hard to get into the breakaway, and in the end some irritatingly strong names made it in too. I thought it was not going to be my day, but I played it smart and had very good legs".
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Valgren had to go all in on a strange Giro day
That Valgren was among the best six of the day came down to sharp racing and a bit of poker. "It was a strange day, with a strange group. I was pretty annoyed because we were not racing, but in the end we really did race. I had not eaten for a while because the cars were far behind. I was afraid I would hit the wall, but luckily it was not 500 metres longer".
It is a deserved win, coming four years after Valgren suffered a serious crash at the Route d'Occitanie in 2022. He fractured his pelvis and ruptured his ACL, MCL and the meniscus in his knee, and had to fear for his career. After a lengthy rehabilitation, a period of depression and a return through EF's development team, Valgren is back at the top level. "This means a lot to me. I was close once in the Giro, but in the Tour de France I could never quite do it".
"I have worked hard because a stage win in a Grand Tour is very important. This will always stand in the history books".
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The Dane will no doubt also hear that pink jersey holder Jonas Vingegaard was overjoyed when he learned of Valgren's win. And Valgren knows exactly why. "I was Jonas's hero when he came to ride with my cycling club. I wouldn't say we are close exactly, but there is still a friendship there, ever since we once went on holiday together with our families and our campervans".
Vingegaard and Valgren's bond runs deeper still. "I know him quite well, but then we kind of just took different paths. I think our friendship will never die. We have a lot of respect for each other, and it is always nice to see him winning. Now I can finally show that I can win again too, so it is a good balance of a friendship".
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