#Giro #Tadej #Pogacar #doubles #Oropa
Sunday May 5, 2024 at 5:09 PM
Tadej Pogacar achieved a double victory in the second stage of the Giro d’Italia. The Slovenian showed himself to be the strongest on the final climb to Oropa and also took over the pink from Jhonatan Narváez. Daniel Felipe Martínez came second in the stage results, Geraint Thomas third.
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It didn’t take long for the first real mountain stage of the Giro d’Italia 2024. On day two it was a success with the arrival at the Santuario di Oropa (11.8 km at 6.2%), where Tom Dumoulin last triumphed seven years ago. Would Tadej Pogacarwho surprisingly had to bow his head in the opening stage Jhonatan Narváezfollow in his footsteps?
Five Italians in front
The second stage of the Giro d’Italia started without Robert Gesink, who had crashed in the opening stage and suffered a fracture in his leg. Without the unfortunate Dutchman, the riders clicked their shoes into the pedals at 12.55 in the afternoon. A (completely Italian) leading group soon emerged. The escapees listened to the names Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan), Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), Davide Bais (Skins of the Comet), Filippo Fiorelli in Martin Marcellusi (both VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
The five bikes have a lead of almost five minutes compared to the peloton. That’s where it decided INEOS Grenadiers of rosette wearer Narváez and the UAE Emirates of top favorite Pogacar the pace. In the run-up to the first intermediate sprint of the day, 65 kilometers from the finish, the sprinter teams came to the fore. Behind the leading group, true Filippo Fiorelli had taken the full spoils and expanded his points total even further, there were still three, two and one points to be collected. These went to respectively Kaden Groves, Olav Kooij in Caleb Ewan.
Fiorelli was third in the points classification, but was allowed to start in purple – photo: Cor Vos
Kooij crash
Not much later, the same Kooij went down together with, among others Eddie Dunbar. The Dutchman was able to continue his way, but was damaged by, among other things, his knee and elbow. He therefore had to be treated at the race doctor’s car. Visma | Lease a Bike also saw this afterwards Attila Walter still fall. Just like Kooij, the Hungarian was able to continue.
Meanwhile, the second, more difficult part of the ride had started with the first climbing of the day. Intergiro points could be earned on top of a second slope. Here too, Fiorelli came through first. Then esteemed Andrea Piccolo his moment has come to fly in. The rider of EF Education-EasyPost went off alone and quickly gained a nice lead over his previous companions.
Pogacar was looking forward to it – photo: Cor Vos
Piccolo also initially started to lag behind the peloton. But then INEOS Grenadiers permanently took over command of UAE Emirates – especially in the person of Filippo Ganna – the crowd quickly approached again. On top of the Nelva (3 km at 6.6%), the penultimate climb of the day, Piccolo still had one minute and 45 seconds. There was another crash on this climb. Domenico Pozzovivo fell for the second day in a row. The Italian had to wait a long time for a new bike before he could give chase.
Pogacar also falls
It would not be the last fall, because just before the final climb… Tadej Pogacar. The leader of UAE Emirates had a flat tire, asked for a new wheel and then slid while entering a corner. INEOS Grenadiers continued to lead, but did not seem to increase the pace to take advantage of the situation. During an intermediate sprint just before the foot was snacked Geraint Thomas two more bonus seconds. Pogacar joined again not much later and moved smoothly again during the first increasing meters.
He did this with the help of some teammates, who then led the troops INEOS Grenadiers relieved at the head of the peloton. They increased the pace a little further, resulting in Piccolo being caught just six kilometers from the finish. It would be between the favorites on Oropa. Daniel Felipe Martínez did not seem to be in contention for victory, because the Colombian was already hanging on the stretcher at that time Rafal Majka still set the pace.
Pogacar attacks
The Pole did this to initiate Pogacar’s attack. The Slovenian accelerated 4.5 kilometers from the finish. Ben O’Connor was the only one who tried to hang on, but the attempt did not last long. Pogacar soon threw the Australian overboard. The leader of UAE Emirates continued alone, while Thomas returned to O’Connor. The two saw the top favorite slowly but surely drive further away and return behind a bunch of riders.
photo: Cor Vos
Uijtdebroeks was the first to join again, followed by Michael Storer, Jan Hirt, One Rubio, Lorenzo Fortunato, Juan Pedro Lopez and none other than Daniel Felipe Martínez. Also Florian Lipowitz was there again. The German started to lead ahead of Martínez.
Double hit Pogacar
Meanwhile, O’Connor found himself. The Decathlon AG2R rider had to let the second group go, among other things Romain Bardet, Thymen Arensman, Damiano Caruso, Antonio Tiberi and rosette wearer Narváez should have done earlier. The Ecuadorian would hand over the pink to Pogacar. The Slovenian crossed the line solo with a large lead and thus did a good job in the general classification.
Of those competitors, Martínez – after strong work from Lipowitz – turned out to have the most juice in his legs in the final kilometer. He sprinted to second place, ahead Geraint Thomas. They came in 27 seconds behind Pogacar. Fortunato and Lipowitz finished in the same time. Storer, Uijtdebroeks and Rubio were given half a minute.
