Giro d’Italia – Tadej Pogacar triumphs at the Oropa Sanctuary 25 years after Pantani! Stage and pink jersey

The Giro d’Italia starts again from the velodrome in San Francesco al Campo with Jonathan Narvaez in pink sweater and Tadej Pogacar thirsty for revenge. The escape attempts begin at the first official meter of the race, but the good attack materializes after about ten kilometres. There are five runners taking part, all Italian: Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan), Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPos), David Bais (Polti – Kometa), the cyclamen shirt Filippo Fiorelli And Martin Marcellusi (VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè). This time it’s a man from INEOS marking the pace in the group, followed by the Decathlon AG2R and Bahrain trains, while the UAE Emirates pedals slyly further back. The pacesetters’ advantage rises to four and a half minutes in this long flat phase.

At -100 the UAE Emirates places Oliveira to make the pace, to start closing the gap before the course moves. The delay drops noticeably on approach at the flying finish line in Valdengo. In front of, Filippo Fiorelli he has no interested rivals and takes 12 cyclamen points. Behind it flew and Jonathan Milan it also risks falling, remaining closed when launching the sprint. Groves, Kooij and Ewan pass in front of the Friulian. We are at -65, the route becomes mangy and black clouds loom over the race. A sudden fall shakes the group and involves them Filippo Zana, Nicola Conci, Eddie Dunbar And Olav Kooij. The last two are the most sore, but they manage to restart.

Fiorelli has a disproportionate leg compared to his breakaway companions and also passes the Crocemosso Intergiro first, stripping Piccolo and Bais. The group, however, is baptized by a perky one Caleb Ewan. Immediately after the sprint, at -50, Andrea Piccolo breaks the hesitation and greets his fellow adventurers, flying away alone. The EF rider approaches the first official climb of the day, Oasi Zegna (3rd category of 5.5 km at 5.6%), with 40 seconds on his closest pursuers and a couple of minutes on the group. His action is sharp and his lead over the group grows, even at the end of the climb he pushes again INEOS and the gap narrows again.

On the climb of Nelva (3rd category of 5 km at 5.7%) only Scaroni remains in pursuit of Piccolo, while first Fiorelli and then Bais and Marcellusi lose contact with the first pursuer. Piccolo takes another GPM, while the group, led by Pippo Ganna, moves to 1’45”. Marcellusi falls on Scaroni on the descent, even if the two are quickly reabsorbed by the platoon and leave Piccolo alone in advance. The EF rider takes three seconds at the flying finish in Biella, while the other two bonuses go to Geraint Thomas and Filippo Ganna. Pogacar punctures the front and falls from a standstill, before setting off again, nervous. We are at the decisive moment, after passing through Biella the climb towards the begins Sanctuary of Oropa (1st category of 11.8 km at 6.2%).

UAE pushes hard in the first part of the rather easy climb and Piccolo’s advantage evaporates. The Italian is caught again at -6.5. Bjerg’s action causes several riders to break away, including Schachmann and Quintana. When the Dane moves, Novak also leaves and only Majka remains for Pogacar. Tadej asks the Pole for one last effort and at -4.5 he launches his attack. Ben O’Connor he remains glued to him for a few hundred meters, only to then give up. An effort that he will pay for (13th with a full minute delay on arrival).

Geraint Thomas goes back at his pace and as almost always he is right. The Welshman takes back O’Connor, then Cian Uijdtebroeks, Florian Lipowitz, Einer Rubio, Juan Pedro Lopez, Lorenzo Fortunato and Jan Hirt also return. There is no Damiano Caruso, there is not even an Antonio Tiberi held back by a mechanical problem shortly before Pogacar’s attack (the young man from Bahrain will arrive with another bicycle). Pogacar puts thirty seconds between himself and the competition and climbs without missing a beat. O’Connor breaks away behind, while Lipowitz sets a great pace. Tadej can enjoy the last meters towards the Sanctuary, he takes a look at the pirate flag waving at the last corner and pushes to the finish line, letting himself go into an angry celebration. Martinez, who at a certain point seemed to be in difficulty, wins the sprint for second place over the very solid Thomas. Then all the others.

Giro 2024 | 2nd stage – Multi audio version

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