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Monday, May 6, 2024

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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. - Edmund Burke

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Current racing:

• May 4 - 26: Giro d'Italia

Upcoming racing:

• May 11: Tour du Finistère

Latest completed racing:

• May 5: Tro-Bro Léon
• May 4: GP du Morbihan
• May 1: Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt
• April 21 - 28: Tour of Turkey
• April 23 - 28: Tour de Romandie
• April 26 - 28: Vuelta Asturias
• April 21: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
• April 15 - 19: Tour of the Alps
• April 17: La Flèche Wallone

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Giro d'Italia stage two reports

We posted the report from the race organizer and stage winner Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emriates with the results.

Here's the report from second-place Daniel Martinez's Team Bora-hansgrohe:

The first mountain finish awaited the peloton on the second day of the Giro d'Italia. The route took the riders from San Francesco al Campo to the pilgrimage church of Oropa, with around 2,000 meters of climbing spread over the last 70 km. After no one was able to follow Pogačar's decisive attack around 4.5km before the finish, a battle for second place erupted behind him. Florian Lipowitz, who rode together with Daniel Martínez in a 15-man chasing group, set the pace for his Colombian teammate well. In the end, Dani finished a strong second, 27 seconds behind the day's winner Pogačar, and thereby improved to third place in the overall standings, while Florian finished the day in fifth place.

Daniel Martinez beats Geraint Thomas for second place. Sirotti photo

Dani Martínez:
It wasn't an easy stage, but in the end I felt pretty good and was ultimately able to take second. Florian and I finished with the group of favourites and were able to improve our overall ranking in the end. Today's result is great for our morale and confidence, but we still have almost the whole Giro ahead of us.

Bernie Eisel, Sports Director:
It was a very good weekend for us. Second place for Dani and fifth place for Florian are impressive results for both riders. The last few kilometers were not easy, because Dani had a mechanical. Our team car couldn't reach him in time, but he managed to fix it himself. This weekend was important for us, but we know that in the end it's the whole Giro that counts. In the first few days we were able to see how the team works together and how the guys can perform. It's great to see that Dani, when he's in top form, can keep up with Pogačar. Unfortunately, he had that incident, which put him at a slight disadvantage, but all in all it was a successful stage for us.

Here's the Giro report from third-place Geraint Thomas' Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Geraint Thomas climbed to second overall and third on the day after a determined ride up Oropa.

The day, which Jhonatan Narvaez started in pink, saw Connor Swift control a break of five riders, before the Grenadiers amassed on the front with three climbs remaining. First, Ben Swift and Filippo Ganna set high tempos to keep the team to the fore in the twisty and technical descents.

Into the foot of the final climb, and some canny riding saw Thomas claim two bonus seconds, before UAE took over pace making. Into the final five kilometres, and Tadej Pogacar would attack, with Narvaez valiantly attempting to hold on to his back wheel in order to defend the jersey.

Jhonatan Narvaez before the stage start. Sirotti photo

Geraint would briefly work with O’Connor (Decathlon - AG2R), before being caught by a larger group who would go all the way to the line. In the sprint, ‘G’ dug deep to come third, 27 seconds down on stage winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE).

Here's the report from Cian Uijtdebroeks' Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Cian Uijtdebroeks once again showed himself in the second stage of the Giro d'Italia. The 21-year-old Belgian finished in the chasing group, half a minute behind stage winner Tadej Pogacar. He moves up to fourth place in the general classification and will start tomorrow’s stage in the white jersey.

Cian Uijtdebroeks in the young rider's white jersey.

The second stage, finishing on the climb to Oropa, had a quiet opening phase. Once again, an early breakaway was controlled by the teams with general classification ambitions. During the flat opening phase, Olav Kooij and Attila Valter both were involved in a crash. Both were able to continue their way quickly. The stage had its climax on the final climb. After a fast pace set by UAE Team Emirates, Pogacar - who crashed at the foot of the climb - placed the decisive acceleration with four kilometres to go. The Slovenian rode solo to victory.

Behind, Uijtdebroeks again proved to be strong. The young Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider rode at his own pace towards chasers Geraint Thomas and Ben O'Connor. The trio was caught by the third group shortly afterwards. Uijtdebroeks eventually reached the finish line in the seven-rider chasing group. In the general classification, he climbed to fourth place. After the stage, he received the white jersey as leader in the young rider classification.

“I felt pretty good in the final”, Uijtdebroeks responded afterwards. “I knew I wouldn't be the fastest in the sprint, but on the steep parts I was able to keep a good pace. The enthusiastic Italian fans along the road made me forget the pain in my legs for a while.”

“I didn't race with the thought of capturing the white jersey”, he continued. “I just wanted to reach the top as quickly as possible. When I was told after the finish that I had the jersey, I didn't believe it at first. I am very happy to start tomorrow’s stage in the jersey. It is my first ever jersey in a grand tour. It will be a goal to defend it.”

Sports director Maarten Wynants saw a convincing Uijtdebroeks. “Yesterday, positioning was a bit difficult, but today it went much better. Cian was always where he needed to be. We had calculated that he might lose time in the opening weekend. In hindsight, we can say he did an excellent job. We are already in a better position than we thought beforehand, but the Giro is still long. The riders are close to each other, if we exclude Pogacar. Every stage will be important.”

And here’s the report from Jan Hirt’s Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Santuario di Oropa returned at the Corsa Rosa after seven years, and as expected, gaps were made between the general classification contenders on the 11.8km climb. Before the real fight began, the stage was animated by a five-man breakaway, whose time at the front of the race came to an end eight kilometers from the finish.

Jan Hirt winning stage 16 of the 2022 Giro d'Italia. Sirotti photo

On the steepest part of the ascent, the peloton got shrunk, only 40-odd riders remaining there, including Soudal Quick-Step’s Jan Hirt and Mauri Vansevenant. Seconds later, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) attacked and opened a gap that proved to be sufficient for both the stage victory and the maglia rosa. Behind, a strong chasing group formed, and the experienced Hirt was there for our team. The 33-year-old Czech, who is riding his sixth Giro d’Italia, put in a phenomenal effort to arrive home just half a minute later and clinch tenth place at the top of the climb.

“It was a hard and stressful stage. Actually, this whole opening weekend was a very tough one. Maybe things will be calmer now that there are some gaps between the climbers. I usually don’t have a good start in a Grand Tour, so I am quite happy after these two stages. We will see what we can do in the GC, but it’s not a goal now”, said Jan, who made a spectacular jump on the general classification, moving up from 25th to 8th in the standings after his result on the Oropa.

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