Giro d'Italia stage 2 analysis: Alpecin-Fenix off to a winning start

Procycling
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Giro d’Italia has proved lucky ground for Grand Tour debutants in recent years, with Tim Merlier becoming the third rider in the last five years to win their first ever road stage in a three week race at the Italian Grand Tour. After the 8.6km stage 1 time trial which opened the race, Merlier won stage 2 of the 2021 Giro from a sprint in Novara, following precedent set by Bora-Hansgrohe duo Lukas Pöstlberger and Pascal Ackermann in recent years, who also won on their Grand Tour debuts; Pöstlberger won stage 1 of the 2017 race, and team-mate Ackermann won stage 2 of the 2019 edition. 

Yet what makes Merlier’s victory that little bit extra special is that his Alpecin-Fenix team is also racing a Grand Tour for the first time in their history. It’s rare for teams in their inaugural Grand Tour to win stages, particularly those such as Alpecin-Fenix who are there on a wildcard placing. It’s even more rare to do it on the opening road stage, with a rider also treading new ground. 

Sophie Hurcom is Procycling’s deputy editor. She joined the magazine in 2017, after working at Cycling Weekly where she started on work experience before becoming a sub editor, and then news and features writer. Prior to that, she graduated from City University London with a Masters degree in magazine journalism. Sophie has since reported from races all over the world, including multiple  Tours de France, where she was thrown in at the deep end by making her race debut in 2014 on the stage that Chris Froome crashed out on the Roubaix cobbles.