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Monday, May 8, 2023

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2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

Every strike brings me closer to the next home run. - Babe Ruth

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Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Giro d'Italia, A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy, Vol 2: 1971 - 2011 is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• May 6 - 29: Giro d'Italia

Upcoming racing:

• May 16 - 21: 4 Jours du Dunkerque

Latest completed racing:

• May 7: Tro-Bro Léon
• May 6: GP du Morbihan
• May 1: Eschborn-Frankfurt
• April 25 - 30: Tour de Romandie
• April 28 - 30: Vuelta Asturias
• April 23: Liege-Bastogne-Liege
• April 17 - 21: Tour of the Alps
• April 19: La Fleche Wallone

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Giro d'Italia stage two team race reports

We posted the report from GC leader Remco Evenepoel's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.

Here's the report from Geraint Thomas & Filippo Ganna's Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Geraint Thomas and Filippo Ganna were able to battle back to the front of the peloton at the Giro d’Italia following a split caused by a crash on stage two.

The peloton had just headed under the four kilometre to go banner when a crash near the front of the bunch saw the road momentarily blocked.

Ganna was able to use his power to help drag Thomas back to a group of just 40 riders at the finish. As a result the Welshman climbed to sixth overall, remaining 55 second back on race leader Remco Evenepoel.

Tao Geoghegan Hart racing the stage one time trial. Sirotti photo

Tao Geoghegan Hart was not so lucky and, along with much of the peloton, was forced to chase back on the run-in. The Brit dropped 19 seconds and now sits eighth overall, 59 seconds off the maglia rosa in this early phase of the race.

Up until that point the opening full road stage of the Giro had been a relatively relaxed one, with the team able to conserve energy where possible prior to the expected bunch sprint.

Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) took the sprint win and claim his first Grand Tour stage in the process, holding off David Dekker (Arkea Samsic) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) at the line.

Geraint Thomas:
"We were a bit out of position and I saw Cav and a few guys go down. Luckily I got through it but I was fully on the anchors at one point. I managed to get through and Ganna was with me which was perfect. Oh man he rode so hard, I was [struggling] just to hold the wheel, but luckily we got back and it was okay.

"It was quite a steady away day until the last 3km which was just ballistic. It was a bit of a shock to the system but all good."

Here’s the Giro stage two report from Stefan Küng’s Team Groupama-FDJ:

Rather quiet for a long time, the second stage of the 2023 Giro eventually ended in chaos, after a big crash four kilometres from the line and several splits in the peloton. While Jake Stewart was able to slip into the top-10 (9th) in a sprint won by Jonathan Milan, Thibaut Pinot lost nineteen seconds following this accident. Stefan Küng found his way through and climbed to fourth place overall on Sunday, forty-three seconds behind the pink jersey Remco Evenepoel.

In the aftermath of the opening time trial, the Giro remained by the sea on Sunday for a second stage featuring more than two hundred kilometres and promised to fast men. From Teramo to San Salvo, two climbs were still listed, which made it a bit interesting to join the breakaway.

Five men very quickly established it, without even fighting: Mattia Bais (EOLO-Kometa), Stefano Gandin (Corratec), Paul Lapeira (AG2R Citroën), Thomas Champion (Cofidis) and Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-Samsic). Their advantage soon reached five minutes, then the teams interested in the final sprint easily controlled for the entire day. Lapeira secured the best climber’s jersey, then the fugitives were caught by the bunch one after the other, as the peloton didn’t want to take any risk on day 2. Everything was back together thirty-five kilometres from the finish, and the pack continued its way as a whole, but with nervousness rising until the last ten kilometres.

The day's break was rounded up well before the finish. Sirotti photo

In the final, the lead-out trains started to move up on both sides of the road, the fight for positions proved very intense, and this actually led to a crash on the right just before the last three kilometres. “It was a long, quite easy stage, but the final was more complicated”, explained Sébastien Joly. “Unfortunately, a crash occurred four kilometres from the finish after the road narrowed and this caused a split”.

Fabian Lienhard, Jake Stewart and Stefan Küng were able to get through, and the Briton took ninth place at the finish a few moments later. “Thibaut lost nineteen seconds because of this incident”, added Sébastien. “We still need to find each other better as a team, even if this is also racing and we know that there is always a bit of nervousness at the start of a Grand Tour. The most important thing is that everyone is ok tonight, but we don’t like losing time. This stage should serve us for the future”. Stefan Küng gained a position overall (4th) at the end of this second stage, while a more hilly and uncertain final awaits the riders on Monday. “Objectively, a stage like tomorrow will suit Jake better, even if the priority remains to work better as a team,” concluded Sébastien.

Here’s the Giro report from Pascal Ackermann’s UAE Team Emirates:

Pascal Ackermann showed signs that his sprinting legs are coming good, taking sixth place in a hectic finale on stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia from Teramo to San Salvo (202km).

The stage was won by Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) who powered through the centre as Ackermann faded on the left of the road.

Ackermann: “It was a super nervous sprint today. I started it a bit too early, maybe if I had waited I could have been closer to the win. In any case I’m happy with the legs and we still have some days to go and chase wins.”

Pascal Ackermann riding the stage one time trial. Sirotti photo

The undulating parcours meant for a mainly relaxing day in the peloton until disaster struck with 4 km remaining as a crash took several riders down and blocked the road.

Though no riders from UAE Team Emirates came down in the initial crash, Jay Vine and Brandon McNulty, who were well placed in the general classification both lost time, coming home in a group +19” down.

Despite the losses, after a commanding show of strength on stage one, UAE Team Emirates now move into the lead of the teams classification.

And here's the Giro stage two report from Team DSM:

After yesterday’s opening time trial, the road stages got underway on Sunday afternoon at the Giro with 202 kilometres on the menu from Teramo to San Salvo. Despite a few climbs along the way, the flat closing 70 kilometres would lend itself to a bunch sprint finish which was the goal the team set off from the start with.

Almost from the flag drop a group of five riders managed to escape and their gap quickly grew out to five minutes before an organised chase began at the front of the peloton. Jonas Iversby Hvideberg came to the front to represent the team’s interests and helped set a good tempo throughout the day, ensuring that the stage would come down to a fast finish.

Working well as a group the team moved forward en masse looking to bring finisher Marius Mayrhofer into a good position to go for the sprint. Unfortunately at just inside four kilometres to go a crash in the bunch saw Martijn Tusveld go down, and the rest of the team held up. A strong pull from Alberto Dainese saw him bring Niklas Märkl and Mayrhofer back to the front split, where Märkl dropped off Mayrhofer in a good wheel. Having already spent a lot of energy, Mayrhofer weaved his way through the sprinters and pushed all the way to the line to take a good fifth place finish for the team – his first ever top five in his first ever Giro d’Italia.

Jonathan Milan was the day's fastest rider. Sirotti photo

Mayrhofer expressed: “The team did a super job and committed to me as the finisher the whole day. We were present in the front and controlled the break. We were also strong in the lead out but unfortunately we ended up behind that crash with some guys. I was also caught behind and we had to work really hard to get back to the front. When we made it there the legs were pretty much already hurting. Fifth is a good result, especially considering the circumstances, and we’re looking forward to the coming chances.”

Team DSM coach Matt Winston added: “I think the guys did a really good job throughout the day. Jonas pulled in the front to make sure it came down to a sprint. Coming into the final the guys were sitting well together. There was a big crash with four kilometres to go where Martijn came down there and we’re still assessing those injuries right now. We had no one directly in the front and Alberto made a massive pull to bring Marius back into a position where he could go for a sprint. Marius had also made a big effort to get there so was also a bit gassed and sprinted to fifth in the end. To be honest, after what happened at four kilometres to go, for the guys to react quickly and still get fifth is a really good effort. It’s a good start to the road stages.”

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