Giro d'Italia: Kittel wins stage 2

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Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) got the win he was aiming for at the Giro d'Italia, taking the expected bunch sprint at the end of stage two in Nijmegen. He took a commanding victory, dominating the rush to the finish line, with a sprint that appeared almost uncontested by runner-up Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida).

"I’m super happy," Kittel said at the finish line. "Yesterday in the time trial I showed that I was in good shape. This was a tricky finale today but a finale where I said I’d stay with my teammates. They did a good job to put me in a good place for the sprint and I did the rest. There was a great atmosphere today, it was a great day.

Dumoulin relied on his Giant-Alpecin teammates to bring him through the stage safely to the finish line. He remains in the overall lead with the same time as Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), but lost time to Kittel, who picked up a 10-second time bonus and moved into third place, only one second behind.

The race for the stage victory truly started at the beginning of the final circuit with 8.6km remaining, as the field passed under the finish line banner surrounded by crowds of screaming fans, beating pink flags against the finish line, roadside barriers. Cannondale took the right side of the road while LottoNL-Jumbo owned the left, and Movistar, Giant-Alpecin and then Team Sky took the centre lines side-by-side.

The speed was high but the sprinter's team played a waiting game. Then in the final 2km, Cannondale and FDJ found their way into the best positions on the front but noticeably missing were Kittel’s Etixx-QuickStep team.

However Kittel timed his move toward the front perfectly, edging to the fore with 1.5km to go, along with Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge), Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), and Elia Vivani (Team Sky) all on the wheels.

Etixx-QuickStep pushed forward with three men ahead of Kittel, leading the charge to the finish line, as FDJ pulled up beside them for Demare, Kittel on his wheel. Fabio Sabatini lead out early and then moved aside, forcing FDJ to take up the pace. Kittel launched his sprint off of Demare's wheel, caught him by surprise and pulled ahead, winning the stage by several metres and taking the 10-second bonus.

More on this story:
• Giro d'Italia stage 2 highlights – Video
• Giro d'Italia stage 2: Finish line quotes
 

Stage 2 Video Highlights

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How it unfolded

The atmosphere in Arnhem was certainly pink for the start of the second stage of the Giro d'Italia!

Clothing lines pinned with pink jerseys strung across the buildings above the starting line street with pink balloons and pink event paraphernalia on display in ever direction. Hoards of fans wearing pink t-shirts crowded the start line to catch a glimpse of their local hero Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin) as he sported the maglia rosa for the start of stage 2.

The stage offered the field a very flat affair, as expected in Holland, but what was unexpected was the lack of wind. Teams had predicted high winds and feared small separations in the peloton brought on by echelons but there was barley a breeze to be felt. The only thing to breakup the morning ride was an early breakaway of three riders; Omar Fraile Matarranza (Dimension Data), Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNl-Jumbo). They jumped away as soon as the flag was dropped and the peloton let them go.

Further up the road there were time bonuses of 3, 2 and 1 seconds at the two intermediate sprints (along with the allocated 10, 6 and 4 seconds at the finish). There was also a cat 3 climb at 155km that offered 3 points to the winner.

The three riders quickly pushed their lead out to three minutes and extended it to nearly 10 minutes with roughly 100km to go. Tjallingii picked up full points in both the first sprint in Malden and the second sprint in Berg en Dal. While back in the field, Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) picked up the remaining points as he targets a second red points jersey.

The riders looped back around to Berg en Dal for the first official climb of the three-week race, measuring 1.1km, and with gradients topping 11%. The trio lined up almost side-by-side across the road as they approached the top of the climb. They slowly ramped up the pace as Fraile jumped ahead to take the points and the first mountains jersey of the race.

The breakaway’s gap was down to 2:30 with 32km to the finish city, where the peloton faced two finish circuits in Nijmegen.

Etixx-QuickStep joined Giant-Alpecin at the front of the field to pick up the pace and ensure a bunch sprint for their man Marcel Kittel. Just before entering the circuits, however, a small crash took down riders from Orica-GreenEdge, Lotto Soudal and Cannondale. None were injured.

Tjallingii and Fraile shook hands to congratulate each other on a long day out front, and to signify the end of their efforts for the day. Berlato, however, made one last attack as the field approached on seven seconds. His efforts were fruitful in gaining another 50 seconds through the finish line and into the two, 8km circuits. He was targeting the most aggressive rider award after the others took jerseys and sprint points. 

Team Sky, Astana made appearances right at the front of the race alongside Etixx-QuickStep and Giant-Alpecin, while teams Katusha, Cannondale and FDJ sat slightly further back. Gradually Movistar and LottoNl-Jumbo also moved to the fore, and as the pace quickened more and more.

Berlato’s gap drastically dropped to 20 seconds with 10km to go, and he sat up under the penultimate time passing under the flamme rouge with 9.6km to go. It was just in time for the sprinters to begin their rush to the line.

We can expect a similar story on Sunday for the second flat road race stage between Nijmegen and Arnhem. 

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