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At 4,5 km to the finish line of stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia (161 km with start from San Francesco al Campo and summit arrival in Oropa) Tadej Pogačar started to build up his first victory in the race and the first Pink Jersey of his career.
The Slovenian rider attacked from the head of the peloton (5 riders main breakaway of the day neutralized in the early part of the final climb, 11,8 km at 6,1%), causing the reaction of Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R) who could not keep the pace of the UAE Team Emirates captain and had to give up soon the idea of following him.
Pogačar kept on pedaling on a high pace towards a solo victory, while behind him the main opponents gathered and tried to limit the gap: on the finish line, the Slovenian had an advantage of 27” on Daniel Martinez (2nd, Bora-hansgrohe) and on Gerraint Thomas (3rd, Ineos-Grenadiers), taking also his first Pink Jersey.
The stage evolution however had not been so smooth for UAE Team Emirates’ talent. In fact, at 11 km to go, at the foot of the climb to Oropa, he had a flat front wheel that also caused him to slip on the ground approaching a right turn (no consequences). Thanks to an immediate assistance from the team car, Pogačar changed his bike and, well supported by team mates, and could come back to the peloton.
Pogačar: “It’s a dream come true, this is my first win at the Giro and my first Pink Jersey. The team plan for the stage worked in a perfect way. I lead now the general classification with quite good gap and we can now enjoy the next stages.
I had a lot of motivation to try to get this win, an extra one was for trying to honor the memory of the young athlete from my cycling youth team who unfortunately passed away.”
Pogačar will wear the leadership symbol (in GC, +45” on Gerraint Thomas, 2nd, and on Daniel Martinez, 3rd) at the start of stage 3: 166 km of pretty easy course from Novara-Fossano.
For UAE Team Emirates, today’s success is number 31 in 2024, while the Pink Jersey comes back to an Emirati team’s rider 5 years later than the last one, who incidentally was another Slovenian cyclist, namely Jan Polanc (Giro d’Italia 2019 at the end of stage 12 Cuneo-Pinerolo).
Stage 2 results
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 3h54’20”
2. Daniel Martinez (Bora-hansgrohe) +27“
3. Gerraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers) s.t.
General classification after stage 2
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 7h08’29”
2. Gerraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers) +45“
3. Daniel Martinez (Bora-hansgrohe) s.t.
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