The Bardiani-CSF rider finished ahead of Lotto-Belisol’s Tim Wellens and Australian Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff-Saxo) after 208km of racing from Sarnonico to Vittorio Veneto.
Pirazzi’s victory came on what was a transition stage for the Giro, after its most demanding day of racing and ahead of three more days to come in the mountains.
As expected there was a detente for the general classification contenders after a contentious Stage 16, and the main peloton rolled across the finish line over 15 minutes behind Pirazzi, resulting in no changes behind race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar).
It took some time for a break to get organised, but when it did, it was 26-riders strong and clearly the defining moment of the stage.
The pace at the front continued steadily with the gap increasing on a sedate peloton. It opened up further 30km from the finish when the cohesion of the break began to fracture as the riders began to think of their own interests.
The first to go was Thomas De Gendt (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and he was joined five kilometres later by a determined Pirazzi on the Muro di Ca del Poggio, the final climb of the day.
With 13km left McCarthy, Wellens and Matteo Montaguti (AG2R) bridged to the duo, creating the select group which would go on to contest the final stage placings.
The five riders continued to the finish together before the jockeying for position began inside the final three kilometres.
Knowing he wasn’t the fastest man of the group, Pirazzi took his chance with a kilometre of racing to go with an acceleration that produced the winning gap.
His first Giro win was celebrated by a defiant gesture at the finish, after which Pirazzi explained: "It's my response to all my critics."
"I've been searching five years for this victory, it was beginning to get me down, but finally I've done it," added the 27-year-old.
"A lot of people criticised my lack of results, but I can assure them I've been working hard. This is my reward for that."
It was also Bardiani-CSF's third win inside a week, following successes by Marco Canola and Enrico Battaglin on the 13th and 14th stages.
Thursday’s stage travels 171km from Belluno to Rifugo Panarotta and features three categorised climbs and a mountain top finish.
Stage 17: 208km, Sarnonico to Vittorio Veneto
1 Stefano Pirazzi (ITA) Bardiani-CSF 4hr 38min 11sec
2 Tim Wellens (BEL) Lotto-Belisol
3 Jay Mccarthy (AUS) Tinkoff-Saxo
4 Thomas De Gendt (BEL) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
5 Matteo Montaguti (ITA) AG2R
6 Jussi Veikkanen (FIN) FDJ.fr 0:00:28
7 Simon Geschke (GER) Giant-Shimano
8 Fabio Felline (ITA) Trek Factory Racing
9 Marco Canola (ITA) Bardiani-CSF
10 Serge Pauwels (BEL) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
1 Nairo Quintana (COL) Movistar 73hr 05min 31sec
2 Rigoberto Uran (COL) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0:01:41
3 Cadel Evans (AUS) BMC 0:03:21
4 Pierre Rolland (FRA) Europcar 0:03:26
5 Rafal Majka (POL) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:03:28
6 Fabio Aru (ITA) Astana 0:03:34
7 Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) AG2R 0:03:49
8 Wilco Kelderman (NED) Belkin 0:04:06
9 Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) Garmin-Sharp 0:04:16
10 Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Trek Factory Racing 0:08:02
SBS broadcasts every stage of the 2014 Giro d'Italia LIVE! There will be nightly highlights at 5:30pm on SBS ONE, and each stage will also be streamed live here at Cycling Central.
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