As is often the way on flat stages of the Giro d’Italia: nothing happens for most of the day – then everything happens at the death. And so it proved on the first road stage of the race with a crash 4km from the finish holding up sprinters and GC riders alike before Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) won the reduced bunch sprint to secure a maiden win on his debut.
After favourite Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) was caught behind the crash, towering 22-year-old Milan powered from the wheel of Australia’s Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to take a surprise win by over a bike length from the Dutchman David Dekker (Arkea-Samsic) and Groves.
Belgium’s Arne Marit (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) and Germany’s Marius Mayrhofer (Team DSM) completed the top five after the likes of Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) and Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) faded on the home straight.
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Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) retained the pink jersey after avoiding the melee brought about by the crash. But Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) was not so lucky – dropping from fourth place to eighth in the general classification – while veteran sprinter Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) hit the deck after being struck from behind.
World champion Evenepoel retained his 22-second lead over Italy’s Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), with Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) in third place a further seven seconds back. After Geoghegan Hart’s mishap, Switzerland’s Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) rises to fourth, with Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) up to fifth – both 43 seconds down on the summit.
A closer inspection of the incident that marred the end of the 202km stage from Teramo to San Salvo seemed to show riders veering sharply to the right which caused a knock-on effect.
Speaking at the finish, Evenepoel said: “I was actually just next to the cause of the crash, so I think everybody saw there were barriers on the left. The train of Alpecin came through, and I think it was Kaden Groves (Alpecin–Deceuninck) pushing [Davide] Ballerini. Ballerini (Soudal–Quick-Step) touched the wheel of [Josef] Cerny (Soudal–Quick-Step) so he had to make a big manoeuvre to stay on the bike.
"So did I because I was behind Davide, who guided me to the finish and because of this swing to the right, I think they took the impact on the right and they just crashed because there was no space any more.
"So it wasn’t a nice manoeuvre, I think that was the cause of the crash, so it’s just a pity that it happened in such a nice and easy stage.”
‘It wasn't a nice move’ – Evenepoel gives his view on ‘nasty’ crash on Stage 2
Forza Milan! How debutant stole the show on day two
A rather routine opening road stage to the 106th edition of the Giro saw four men dart clear from the gun as the race left Teramo and headed over some lumpy terrain towards the Adriatic coast.
Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Paul Lapeira (Ag2R-Citroen), Stefano Gandin (Team Corratec-Selle Italia) and Mattia Bais (EOLO-Kometa) were joined by Alessandro Verre (Arkea-Samsic) as the quintet quickly established a maximum gap of over five minutes on a peloton happy to ease its collective self into the race.
Eritrea’s Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Trek-Segafredo) was on the nose of the pack for large swathes of the afternoon in a bit to pave the way for his Danish team-mate Pedersen. Support came from the Movistar, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Team DSM squads of sprinters Gaviria, Groves and Mayrhofer as the gap gradually came down under the sunny skies of Abruzzo.
Breakaway team discuss dramatic Giro d'Italia stage 2 finale involving crash and time losses
Frenchman Lapeira secured the maglia azzurra after taking maximum points over the two fourth-category climbs on the menu, which sandwiched two intermediate sprints both won by the Italian Gandin.
Italy’s Verre, meanwhile, was first to be jettisoned by the move, the second youngest rider in the race somewhat shooting his bolt on the first climb and paying for his efforts soon after, as the race returned to the Adriatic coast following an inland mid-section for those climbs and sprints.
Gaviria, meanwhile, showed his intent by pipping Australia’s Matthews (Team Jayco-AlUla) from the peloton in the first intermediate sprint, where points were up for grabs in the maglia ciclamino competition.
With the gap dropping below one minute, Lapeira – his work for the day done – sat up and waited for the peloton, as the pace and concentration grew in tandem as the stage entered its endgame. It was not long before the remaining escapees followed suit, the trio sharing a fist pump before being reabsorbed into the pack with 40km remaining.
The flat-out approach to the finish at San Salvo was that usual mixture of sprinters’ teams paving the way for their fast men, and the GC teams doing their best to keep their leaders out of trouble.
Cavendish among those down in big crash during Giro d'Italia stage 2 finale
But it all proved in vain for many after the high-speed incident just 4km from the finish. Veteran sprinter Cavendish was the biggest name to hit the deck, but many others saw their GC hopes hit a snag – all the benefits of Saturday’s stellar time trial disappearing in a flash for Geoghegan Hart.
Alpecin-Deceuninck had power in numbers on the front of the pack when the crash happened – but Groves was unable to repay their efforts after Milan recovered from being boxed in to surging clear on the home straight. The 22-year-old’s win was his first in Grand Tours and only the fourth of his career – and saw him move into the lead of the maglia ciclamino points competition.
“It’s incredible. I’m without words,” an astonished Milan said. “It’s my first Giro, the second stage. Yesterday I did a nice time trial which made me happy – but I could never have thought I’d win today. My team-mates put me in the perfect position but told me to go easy. I cannot believe it – I’m just happy.”
‘I am without words’ – Milan ‘can’t’ believe winning stage on first Giro
Also conceding 19 seconds to Evenepoel along with Geoghegan Hart was fellow British climber Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ). Former world champion Pedersen was also held up, denying the Dane the chance to contest the sprint despite the work carried out by his Trek-Segafredo team.
The Giro d’Italia continues on Monday with the 216km Stage 3 from Vasto to Melfi which includes an uncategorised climb on the flanks of an extinct volcano near the finish ahead of a slightly uphill finish of the kind that suits Roglic to a tee.
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