Simon Yates surprisingly won the short Giro time trial in Budapest. The Brit from Team BikeExchange was 3 seconds faster than Mathieu van der Poel, who retains the pink leader’s jersey. Tom Dumoulin finished third.
The 2nd stage of the Giro in a nutshell:
- Winner of the day (1): Simon Yates as the favorite for the overall victory in the work against the clock should limit the damage. Even though this time trial suited him, the Briton hands out a slap that can count. With time trial guru Marco Pinotti as a mentor, he broadens his candidacy for the overall victory.
- Winner of the day (2): Mathieu van der Poel may be a little disappointed, but after such a great performance, the Dutchman can only smile. What can’t he do?
- loser of the day: A 3rd place is nothing to be ashamed of, but Tom Dumoulin had – as he said himself – hoped for more. “This is a disappointment,” he responded.
- Morning: The Hungarian triptych is concluded with a full sprint race.
No new Dutch heyday
“A time trial for a crosser: this is tailor-made for Mathieu van der Poel,” said Jos van Emden after his inspection round.
Did Tom Dumoulin’s teammate want to put the pressure in the pink camp?
Dumoulin was certainly not disappointed on the technical track and was the first to dive well below the 12-minute limit.
But the Dutch champion didn’t even have time to blow out in the hot seat.
Immediately after him, Simon Yates surprised Jan and everyone: with 11’50”, the Briton was even stronger.
Only one whopper was still able to knock Yates off his throne: the pink panther himself.
At the foot of the mountain, Van der Poel was barely 0”65 in debt, but Yates had ridden a climb to say the least.
Van der Poel extended his pink subscription with verve, but ended in 3 seconds of stage win.
And the favourites?
Simon Yates thus emerges as the winner of the first boxing match, but with what feeling are his rivals diving under the wool?
The Dutch trump cards Tom Dumoulin and Wilco Kelderman are on the virtual podium, Joao Almeida will undoubtedly have expected more from his time trial.
Richard Carapaz also gave a poor impression, Mikel Landa, on the other hand, did well.
Climbers like Hugh Carthy, Miguel Angel Lopez and Giulio Ciccone know what to do in the coming weeks: attack.
Simon Yates: “This is unexpected”
“This is probably my best time trial ever”, Simon Yates laughed afterwards. “I am of course very happy, this is a bit unexpected, but I take it as it comes.”
“I just tried to go as fast as possible today. I have to thank my team because they really put a lot of time into our material.”
“I never really hoped for it, Van der Poel also came very close. But you always have to believe in something, I was able to do it.”
“Today it was only an effort of 12 minutes, there are even harder stages in this Giro. Now I can enjoy it for a while, because it is my second time trial win ever, but I have to focus on the bigger picture.”
