André Greipel won the second stage of the Giro d’Italia today in a bunch sprint and takes over the pink jersey from Lukas Pöstlberger. The Austrian rider keeps his lead in the Young Rider classification and therefore changes Pink to White for tomorrow’s stage. In the GC he still is in second place on the leaderboard.
Today’s second stage took the peloton from Olbia to Tortolí over 221 demanding kilometres. The stage featured some hilly sections, two KOM´s, two intermediate sprints and more than 3000 metres of climbing. The last 10 flat kilometres, including a long finishing straight, promised another fast finish for the sprinters in the peloton.
From drop of the flag, a group of 5 riders attacked. The group were on the head of the race for the most time of the stage, with a lead of up to 6 minutes over the peloton. BORA – hansgrohe was desperate to fight for the Pink Jersey and took early control over the pace in the bunch.
Cesare Benedetti, leader in the KOM classification, was one of the men pulling in the peloton. He skipped his own chances in the fight for the Blue Jersey, to fully support the race leader Pöstlberger.
On the final descent, it was Bahrein-Merida who were setting a exceptional high pace in the bunch. BORA – hansgrohe was also well placed in the peloton to keep the Pink Jersey out of trouble. The expected bunch sprint, saw Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) taking the win and also the Pink Jersey.
Lukas Pöstlberger also tried to go for some important bonus seconds, but couldn’t match the speed of the sprint specialists. He finished in 15th place and keeps the lead in the Young Rider classification, going into tomorrow’s third stage of the 100th Giro.
Lukas Pöstlberger – “We decided to try again something on the last kilometers if possible. Rudi delivered me perfectely on the last k, put the pace was already too high to go again. Lotto-Soudal did a perfect leadout and I tried to go Greipels wheel then. But I didn’t have the legs or speed to challenge him in the end. It was a wonderful day in Pink here in the 100th edition of the Giro. Now I still have the White Jersey, for me that’s perfect and I think we can be satisfied.”
