Giro 2024: Tadej Pogacar follows in Dumoulin’s footsteps with victory over Oropa and also takes the pink

Tadej Pogacar has achieved a double in the second stage of the Giro d’Italia. The Slovenian proved 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.

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 won seven years ago. last triumphed. Would Tadej Pogacar, who surprisingly had to bow his head to Jhonatan Narváez in the opening stage, follow 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 were named Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan), Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), Davide Bais (Polti Kometa), Filippo Fiorelli and Martin Marcellusi (both VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).

The five bikes have a lead of almost five minutes compared to the peloton. There, the INEOS Grenadiers of rose jersey wearer Narváez and the UAE Emirates of top favorite Pogacar set 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, where Filippo Fiorelli had taken the full spoils and expanded his points total even further, there were still three, two and one points to be gained. These went to Kaden Groves, Olav Kooij and Caleb Ewan respectively.

Kooij crash
Not much later, the same Kooij went down together with Eddie Dunbar, among others. 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 Attila Valter fall afterwards. 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. After that, Andrea Piccolo thought his time had come to take flight. The EF Education-EasyPost rider went off alone and quickly took a nice lead over his previous companions.

Piccolo also initially started to lag behind the peloton. But when INEOS Grenadiers finally took over command from UAE Emirates – especially in the person of Filippo Ganna – the pack quickly closed in 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 crashed 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 fell. 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. In an intermediate sprint just before the foot, Geraint Thomas still gained two 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 relieved the INEOS Grenadiers troops at the head of the platoon. 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, as the Colombian was already hanging on when Rafal Majka was still setting 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 UAE Emirates leader 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, Einer Rubio, Lorenzo Fortunato, Juan Pedro López and none other than Daniel Felipe Martínez. Florian Lipowitz was also 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, as Romain Bardet, Thymen Arensman, Damiano Caruso, Antonio Tiberi and rose jersey wearer Narváez had already 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 of 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.