Lightning-quick Yates storms to Time Trial victory in Budapest

Team BikeExchange Jayco’s Simon Yates produced the time trial of his career to win stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia, and put himself in a strong position in the general classification going into stage 3. Mathieu van der Poel narrowly missed out on the stage win, coming in second to retain the maglia rosa.

Ahead of the stage, all the talk had been over whether or not the Dutch rider for Alpecin-Fenix could achieve back-to-back stage wins, or whether his compatriot, Tom Dumoulin, would be able to best him. The two were side-by-side in the final standings, but nobody could have predicted the incredible form of the British rider, who followed up on his strong time trial at Paris-Nice earlier in the Spring to prove that it was no fluke.

It was a good day for British riders, as the early pace on the short, technical course was set by former hour record-holder Alex Dowsett of Israel Premier-Tech. Just the fifth rider to roll off the start ramp, Dowsett remained in the hot seat and saw over forty riders come and go without troubling his time. The 9.2km course, which featured a category four climb to finish, was the second stage of the 2022 edition of the Giro to take place in Hungary, in the city’s capital of Budapest.

It was a Jumbo Visma rider, former Dutch national champion Jos van Emden, who finally toppled Dowsett, but he didn’t remain on top for long, as his team mate Edoardo Affini bested his time just a few minutes later.

As a time trial specialist, Italian rider Affini was one of the favourites going into the stage, but the same could not be said for the rider who eventually ousted him from the hot seat, Bora-Hansgrohe’s Lennard Kämna. The German, who wore the red number of most combative rider following his long-range attack in the final of stage 1, shaved three seconds off of Affini’s time to take control of the stage.

With the overall favourites for the race stacked at the back end of the stage, the fireworks did not really begin until late on in the day. Italian time trial champion Matteo Sobrero set the stage for a good day out for Team BikeExchange Jayco when he took the lead. He did not remain on top for long, however, as Dutch champion and Olympic silver medallist Tom Dumoulin set out his stall, becoming the first rider to break through the 12-minute barrier, with a time of 11.55.

Sadly for Dumoulin, his stint in the hot seat had barely begun before he was moved along by Yates, who not only set the fastest time overall, but the fastest time on the flat section of the race, belying his status as a climbing specialist and putting pressure on his GC rivals in the process.

The final rider off the ramp was the maglia rosa, Alpecin Fenix’s Mathieu van der Poel, and although he gave it everything, he could only set the second fastest time of the day at 11.53, three seconds shy of the time of the man from Bury in Lancashire. Despite this, he maintained his status as leader of the general classification, with 11 seconds over Yates in second, and 16 over Tom Dumoulin in third.

It was a strong day out for Team Jumbo Visma, who boast a range of time trial specialists among their ranks, and they were consistent with five of their riders in the top 25. Team BikeExchange Jayco scored two top five places, and in a really impressive ride, 20-year-old Brit Ben Tulett, the second-youngest rider in the race, came in 5th position, just 13 seconds down on Yates, to become the leading rider in the overall standings for the Ineos Grenadiers.

Tomorrow’s flat stage is the last of the three in Hungary before the race travels to Italy, and with a bunch sprint finish on the cards, it’s highly likely that van der Poel will carry the leader’s jersey back to the race’s homeland on Tuesday, as the Giro heads to Sicily and an ascent of Mount Etna.

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