Giro d’Italia: Van der Poel in pink after winning opener on debut

VISEGRAD, Hungary –

Mathieu Van der Poel, a Dutch cyclist won the first stage of the Giro d’Italia and took home the race’s first maglia rosa. This was his debut in the Italian grand Tour.

Van der Poel (who rides for Alpecin-Fenix) edged Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay in the final of a chaotic bunch sprint at the top of the uphill finish towards the citadel in Visegrad.

Van der Poel: “I knew that positioning was going be the key to winning,” said. “It was difficult at times, I got boxed in several times on the final climb. It took a lot of energy and effort to catch up with the men in front. At the final, I just launched my sprint. The legs were filled with lactate so it was close.

After winning the second stage of last year’s Grand Tour, he also won the Tour de France yellow shirt for six days.

He said, “It’s amazing, after the yellow jersey. To wear the pink now.” said. “Now, we’ll see what tomorrow’s time trial brings. For sure, I will try again. It will be hard but I’m going.

Pello Bilbao came in third on the undulating 195-kilometre route to Budapest.

Alex Cataford from Ottawa was 70th. This is 52 seconds short of the lead. The 28-year old Israel Premier Tech rider is taking part in his third consecutive Grand Tour race.

Caleb Ewan tried hard to win the victory but lost less than 200m after touching Girmay’s backwheel.

Two Drone Hopper riders dominated the stage for the majority of the day, after they escaped shortly after the start. Italians Mattia Bicas and Filippo Tagliani quickly built a lead, with a maximum advantage of 11 mins before the peloton began to reel them in.

With less than 14 kilometres to go, they were caught. The stage was then ignited on the five-kilometre climb to finish.

Although there were many attempts to attack, the peloton was able to keep them at bay. Overall favourite Richard Carapaz finished sixth. His time was the same as those of all his competitors and he has a narrow advantage over his general classification rivals.

Saturday’s second stage will see an individual time trial through Budapest. It also has an uphill finish. The first section of the nine-kilometre route has peaks at 14 percent.

It’s the first grand tour in Hungary and the 14th Giro outside of Italy, two years after it started.

The Giro was originally scheduled to begin in Hungary in 2020, but organizers were forced to reschedule it to October and move its start to Sicily.

The Giro will end in Verona on May 29, at 9:59 p.m.