The 140-kilometer long stage began with the breakaway of six riders, who were primarily competing for climbing premiums. Louis Barré (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Nicolas Debeaumarché (Cofidis), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty), Amanuel Ghebregzabhier (Lidl-Trek), Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa) and Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group Bardiani) did not get much space, because the UAE Emirates team wanted to allow Pogačar to go for the stage win.
Already on the way to Superga, the leading group broke apart, Ghebregzabhier attacked and drove for the first place for the premium and 9 points in the competition for the blue jersey. Only Calmejane finished it, leaving only two competitors at the front. The holder of the blue jersey was to be decided only in the exit to Colle Maddalena, an exit of the 2nd category. Here, Calmejane soon joined his Eritrean rival and held the lead with a small lead until the top. He collected a total of 20 points and was declared the best climber after the stage.
Arensman and Bardet were already not enough in the first long climb
The UAE Emirates team set a high pace in the outing on Colle Maddalena, which did not suit many competitors, Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) and Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) soon dropped out and neither of them returned to the front. Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and many others also had problems.
But UAE Emirates could not keep the race under control. In the descent from Maddalena, Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) left, who were gradually joined by other attackers – Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Alessandro De Marchi ( Jayco AlUla), Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group Bardiani).
Pogačar lacked domestics in the end
The group caught up with Calmejane and gained a fairly good lead over the brushed peloton, where Pogačar was missing his helpers, he was the only one left who had to spend all his energy to keep the fugitives in sight. But the leading group was also racing, Conci breaking away from the group before the final climb of San Vito and heading up the hill with a lead of around 20 seconds on the chasers and over 30 seconds on the main group. But already at the beginning of the 1,500-meter-long exit, Pogačar attacked, easily overtook most of the refugees, and only Conci remained.
In the end, he finished that too, but he didn’t get rid of the ferocious Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers). The Ecuadorian champion bravely held on to the hook and lasted until the top. No one else was as strong, Schachmann crossed the top with a small loss and caught up with the leading pair on the descent. Neither Narváez nor Schachmann wanted to alternate with Pogačar, they bet on tiring out the star opponent.
And it was successful, Pogačar started to sprint in the finish line in Turin with Narváez in tow, and the fast classicist overtook him quite easily and finished for the stage and also the pink jersey. Schachmann also got ahead of Pogačar, who thus gained only 4 bonus seconds. The group of eighteen riders, where Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers), Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and other leaders in the overall standings held on, finished with a gap of 10 seconds.
Jan Hirt (Soudal Quick-Step) held on bravely in the explosive end of the stage and finished 20 seconds behind Narváez. Plapp with Bardet and other riders lost 57 seconds and Arensman even 2:17, apparently he will only help Thomas.
After the first day of the Giro, Pogačar has a lead of 14 seconds over Thomas, O’Connor, Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease and Bike) and other serious rivals.
Narváez also owns the maglia ciclamino, the jersey for the points leader, which Schachmann will wear on Sunday. Calmejane will ride in the blue jersey and the best young competitor is Baudin, who lost 6 seconds to the winning trio.
Narváez thinks Pogačar started sprinting too soon
“The team and I have been thinking about this stage for at least a month,” said Narváez after his second Giro d’Italia win. “But this is definitely nicer than the first one. I worked hard to get here. Trying to follow the best rider in the world up the hill was very difficult. That’s why it’s an extra nice win. My legs still hurt at this point, but I won.”
He handled the Slovenian surprisingly easily in the sprint. “I think Pogačar started too early. A sprint of two hundred meters is long after a demanding stage. I wanted it to be a short sprint.”
He wore the leader’s jersey for the first time on the big Grand Tour, he will probably lose it in the next stage with the finish to Oropa, but no one will take that one day in pink away from him. “The fact that I can wear the pink jersey is amazing. Our sports director was just telling me yesterday that in the Grand Tour there is not much chance for riders like me to get the pink jersey on the first day. A mass sprint or a prologue is often held on such days, so this was the perfect opportunity.”
2024-05-04 19:40:27
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