Ackermann wins Giro d'Italia stage 2

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Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) won stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia, out-sprinting Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) in Fucecchio to take his first Grand Tour stage victory.

The German was one of the favourites to win the opening sprint stage of the race, having shown his form when he won Eschborn-Frankfurt on May 1. His team were among a number of sprint trains to hit the front in the closing kilometres, though it was Lotto Soudal in control under the flamme rouge.

With all the major favourites avoiding a small crash towards the front of the peloton inside the final kilometre, it was Ewan who would launch his sprint first, 200 metres from the line. A touch further back, Ackermann was following Fernando Gaviria’s (UAE Team Emirates) wheel but hit the wind himself when the Colombian jumped to follow Ewan.

What followed was a drag race between Ewan and Ackermann, with the German champion winning out against the aero Australian. Viviani, who was on Ackermann’s wheel, couldn’t even begin to find a way past but snagged second place regardless.

“I’m so happy. It was my first chance to win a stage and we did it great,” Ackermann said after the finish. “I think that all the team is more motivated and it’s good for the next three weeks.

“We saw with 250 to go that none of the sprinters had started the sprint. I decided to take my speed and go full gas and luckily it was enough.

“For sure there was big pressure, but it is my first Grand Tour and you never know what will happen in your first Grand Tour. I’m happy to have won my first stage.”

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) retains the overall race lead, with the top positions remaining unchanged after stage 2. Ackermann takes over the cyclamen jersey of the points classification, while Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) extended his lead at the top of the mountain classification thanks to his day in the break.

How it happened

The peloton was greeted by grim weather in Bologna as they rolled out to begin stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia. The rain and wind didn’t stop a break of eight riders getting away from the peloton in the first 10km of the stage though.

Blue jersey wearer Ciccone made the break as he looked to add more mountain points in what could be a race-long bid for the Italian. He was joined by Francois Bidard (AG2R La Mondiale), Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli), Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF), Łukasz Owsian (CCC Team), Sean Bennett (EF Education First), Damiano Cima (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Ciccone’s teammate Will Clarke.

The group’s advantage never got out to more than 4:30 as the weather cleared up and the roads turned dry after around 70km of racing. Much of the day passed by without incident, a standard flat stage early in a Grand Tour, though Guillaume Boivin (Israel Cycling Academy) hit the deck as the teams began jostling ahead of the climbs –the first crash of the 2019 Giro.

The rain started to fall again as the riders reached the first climb of the day, the third category Montalbano, some 48km from the finish. Ciccone struck out, keen to sweep up the points, and duly took them with his companions unable to follow the attack.

Further back, several of the break were swept up by the peloton, leaving Ciccone, Owsian, Bidard and Frapporti up front. The quartet remained 1:20 up heading into the final 40km of the stage. A speculative attack from Jan Bakelandts (Team Sunweb) would come to nothing, only serving the purpose of closing the gap a little.

Deceuninck-QuickStep and UAE Team Emirates were among the teams on the front of the peloton as the break reached the fourth category climb of San Baronto with 28km remaining. Unsurprisingly, it was Ciccone who took the points, bringing his total to 21.

Back in the peloton, the Movistar duo of Jasha Sütterlin and Hector Carretero crashed on the climb, with Sütterlin hitting the ground face-first. The German sat on the road for some time, understandably dazed after hitting the deck.

In the break, Frapporti made his way back to the leaders, having been dropped on the climb. As the four riders reached the 20km to go mark, their advantage was a mere minute, with largely flat roads remaining en route to Fucecchio.

With 10km to go Bora-Hansgrohe worked at the head of the peloton, looking to support their man Ackermann, and the German team swept up the break with seven kilometres to race. On the run-in, a number of different trains hit the front, including Dimension Data, Groupama-FDJ and Lotto-Soudal, and it was the Belgian squad who were leading the peloton into the final kilometre.

Lotto duly led the peloton out, with Ewan launching his sprint first. But Ackermann had surfed Gaviria’s wheel before launching himself, and it was the in-form German who took the first road stage victory of the 2019 Giro d’Italia. 

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