Category: Biniam Girmay

Mathieu van der Poel and Biniam Girmay are so strong their rivals are literally falling over trying to follow them.

Mark Cavendish had checked himself out of contention long before the road to the castle at Visegrad tilted up to its maximum eight percent; Arnaud Demare, for all his Poggio prowess, did not go the distance, while Fernando Gaviria was one of the last to let the elastic snap.

But after the thrills and spills that saw both Lawrence Naesen and Lennard Kamna try gutsy long-range attacks, and Cavendish’s Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team-mate Davide Ballerini crash out of the reckoning, came the moment that, in retrospect, seemed utterly inescapable.

Spoiler: it didn’t include Mathieu van der Poel. Or if it did, none of us could see him – perhaps on account of that olive green camouflage jersey, which worked a treat as Alpecin-Fenix’s main man ghosted past his fading colleagues, biding his time and keeping his powder dry until the last possible moment.

No, the slap in the face came when Girmay and Ewan found themselves on the front inside the last few hundred metres and it all dawned on us that, of course, the in-form Eritrean and his pocket-rocket Australian counterpart had the uphill armoury to last the course.

When they struck out for the line, Van der Poel was forced to give up his back seat and to react. The 27-year-old Dutchman won on a similar slope at Mur de Bretagne in his debut Tour de France last year on his way to a maiden maillot jaune. But he did so from the front, having already taken bonus seconds on the first ascent of the climb.

This time, Van der Poel came from behind with all the venom of a rider who earlier this spring added a second Tour of Flanders triumph to his name. It was somewhat fitting that the man he needed to beat to ensure the win was another rider who had enjoyed something of a flourishing spring: Girmay, whose victory at Gent-Wevelgem was a first ever for an African in a cobbled classic.

Van der Poel and Girmay are both making their debuts at the Giro but treated their Corsa Rosa curtain-raiser as if they were old hands at this game. Relatively speaking, Van der Poel is an old hand – his eventful week in France last July filled with more experiences than some achieve in an entire career. That perhaps makes what Girmay did out there under the Hungarian sun all the more impressive – for this was his first roll of the Grand Tour dice, at an age considerably younger than his counterpart, with a result far more impressive than Van der Poel’s own 20th place finish in the opening stage of the 2021 Tour.

For a brief moment it looked like the 22-year-old Eritrean had written himself another fine chapter in his meteoric rise; another historic moment for African cycling, and a feel-good result to be savoured by all. Victory and the pink jersey at the first time of asking would have been a fitting reward for a rider whose presence we will surely see atop the podium over the next couple of weeks.

But for all Girmay’s grit, Van der Poel is from another planet. Like Taylor Swift, the indefatigable Dutchman has a knack of delivering hit after hit; like Tyson Fury, no one can knock him down; like Midas, whatever he touches turns to gold – or, at least, turns to whatever colour the relevant race represents. So, after delivering the yellow jersey that always eluded his grandfather Raymond Poulidor, it was only natural that Van der Poel should become Van der Pink.

Of course, it was harder than simply deciding he’d like to change jerseys. As Van der Poel admitted afterwards, he found himself boxed in on the final climb and needed to dig deep to fight back into contention. But where other riders would have thrown in the towel, Van der Poel – by far the most talented all-round rider of his or any generation in the current pro peloton – found what he needed to deny what would have been an equally deserved victory for Girmay.

The two were head and shoulders above the others – so much so that Ewan, who had done admirably to stay in contention on the climb, made the rookie mistake of touching his front wheel to the back wheel of Girmay with the finish line gaping. The Australian hit the deck hard but will live to contest another day.

At this point it’s worth noting that this is not the first time Ewan has ended up in a heap on the finishing straight after a freak accident. Something similar happened in Stage 3 of the Tour last year, ending his race and with it his plans to ride all three Grand Tours in 2021.

Van der Poel’s latest triumph means his Alpecin-Fenix team have now won the opening sprint of the previous four Grand Tours: after Tim Merlier’s Giro-Tour double, fellow Belgian Jasper Philipsen kept the run going at the 2021 Vuelta. If it’s amazing that Van der Poel was not part of that run previously, it’s somewhat inexorable that he is now.

Stars of the spring, Van der Poel and Girmay, in pink and white, are on course to become stars of this early summer, too. And we’ve yet to even touch foot on Italian soil.

– – –

Mathieu van der Poel and Biniam Girmay are so strong their rivals are literally falling over trying to follow them.

Mark Cavendish had checked himself out of contention long before the road to the castle at Visegrad tilted up to its maximum eight percent; Arnaud Demare, for all his Poggio prowess, did not go the distance, while Fernando Gaviria was one of the last to let the elastic snap.

But after the thrills and spills that saw both Lawrence Naesen and Lennard Kamna try gutsy long-range attacks, and Cavendish’s Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team-mate Davide Ballerini crash out of the reckoning, came the moment that, in retrospect, seemed utterly inescapable.

Spoiler: it didn’t include Mathieu van der Poel. Or if it did, none of us could see him – perhaps on account of that olive green camouflage jersey, which worked a treat as Alpecin-Fenix’s main man ghosted past his fading colleagues, biding his time and keeping his powder dry until the last possible moment.

No, the slap in the face came when Girmay and Ewan found themselves on the front inside the last few hundred metres and it all dawned on us that, of course, the in-form Eritrean and his pocket-rocket Australian counterpart had the uphill armoury to last the course.

When they struck out for the line, Van der Poel was forced to give up his back seat and to react. The 27-year-old Dutchman won on a similar slope at Mur de Bretagne in his debut Tour de France last year on his way to a maiden maillot jaune. But he did so from the front, having already taken bonus seconds on the first ascent of the climb.

This time, Van der Poel came from behind with all the venom of a rider who earlier this spring added a second Tour of Flanders triumph to his name. It was somewhat fitting that the man he needed to beat to ensure the win was another rider who had enjoyed something of a flourishing spring: Girmay, whose victory at Gent-Wevelgem was a first ever for an African in a cobbled classic.

Van der Poel and Girmay are both making their debuts at the Giro but treated their Corsa Rosa curtain-raiser as if they were old hands at this game. Relatively speaking, Van der Poel is an old hand – his eventful week in France last July filled with more experiences than some achieve in an entire career. That perhaps makes what Girmay did out there under the Hungarian sun all the more impressive – for this was his first roll of the Grand Tour dice, at an age considerably younger than his counterpart, with a result far more impressive than Van der Poel’s own 20th place finish in the opening stage of the 2021 Tour.

For a brief moment it looked like the 22-year-old Eritrean had written himself another fine chapter in his meteoric rise; another historic moment for African cycling, and a feel-good result to be savoured by all. Victory and the pink jersey at the first time of asking would have been a fitting reward for a rider whose presence we will surely see atop the podium over the next couple of weeks.

But for all Girmay’s grit, Van der Poel is from another planet. Like Taylor Swift, the indefatigable Dutchman has a knack of delivering hit after hit; like Tyson Fury, no one can knock him down; like Midas, whatever he touches turns to gold – or, at least, turns to whatever colour the relevant race represents. So, after delivering the yellow jersey that always eluded his grandfather Raymond Poulidor, it was only natural that Van der Poel should become Van der Pink.

Of course, it was harder than simply deciding he’d like to change jerseys. As Van der Poel admitted afterwards, he found himself boxed in on the final climb and needed to dig deep to fight back into contention. But where other riders would have thrown in the towel, Van der Poel – by far the most talented all-round rider of his or any generation in the current pro peloton – found what he needed to deny what would have been an equally deserved victory for Girmay.

The two were head and shoulders above the others – so much so that Ewan, who had done admirably to stay in contention on the climb, made the rookie mistake of touching his front wheel to the back wheel of Girmay with the finish line gaping. The Australian hit the deck hard but will live to contest another day.

At this point it’s worth noting that this is not the first time Ewan has ended up in a heap on the finishing straight after a freak accident. Something similar happened in Stage 3 of the Tour last year, ending his race and with it his plans to ride all three Grand Tours in 2021.

Van der Poel’s latest triumph means his Alpecin-Fenix team have now won the opening sprint of the previous four Grand Tours: after Tim Merlier’s Giro-Tour double, fellow Belgian Jasper Philipsen kept the run going at the 2021 Vuelta. If it’s amazing that Van der Poel was not part of that run previously, it’s somewhat inexorable that he is now.

Stars of the spring, Van der Poel and Girmay, in pink and white, are on course to become stars of this early summer, too. And we’ve yet to even touch foot on Italian soil.

– – –

Mathieu van der Poel and Biniam Girmay are so strong their rivals are literally falling over trying to follow them.

Mark Cavendish had checked himself out of contention long before the road to the castle at Visegrad tilted up to its maximum eight percent; Arnaud Demare, for all his Poggio prowess, did not go the distance, while Fernando Gaviria was one of the last to let the elastic snap.

But after the thrills and spills that saw both Lawrence Naesen and Lennard Kamna try gutsy long-range attacks, and Cavendish’s Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team-mate Davide Ballerini crash out of the reckoning, came the moment that, in retrospect, seemed utterly inescapable.

Spoiler: it didn’t include Mathieu van der Poel. Or if it did, none of us could see him – perhaps on account of that olive green camouflage jersey, which worked a treat as Alpecin-Fenix’s main man ghosted past his fading colleagues, biding his time and keeping his powder dry until the last possible moment.

No, the slap in the face came when Girmay and Ewan found themselves on the front inside the last few hundred metres and it all dawned on us that, of course, the in-form Eritrean and his pocket-rocket Australian counterpart had the uphill armoury to last the course.

When they struck out for the line, Van der Poel was forced to give up his back seat and to react. The 27-year-old Dutchman won on a similar slope at Mur de Bretagne in his debut Tour de France last year on his way to a maiden maillot jaune. But he did so from the front, having already taken bonus seconds on the first ascent of the climb.

This time, Van der Poel came from behind with all the venom of a rider who earlier this spring added a second Tour of Flanders triumph to his name. It was somewhat fitting that the man he needed to beat to ensure the win was another rider who had enjoyed something of a flourishing spring: Girmay, whose victory at Gent-Wevelgem was a first ever for an African in a cobbled classic.

Van der Poel and Girmay are both making their debuts at the Giro but treated their Corsa Rosa curtain-raiser as if they were old hands at this game. Relatively speaking, Van der Poel is an old hand – his eventful week in France last July filled with more experiences than some achieve in an entire career. That perhaps makes what Girmay did out there under the Hungarian sun all the more impressive – for this was his first roll of the Grand Tour dice, at an age considerably younger than his counterpart, with a result far more impressive than Van der Poel’s own 20th place finish in the opening stage of the 2021 Tour.

For a brief moment it looked like the 22-year-old Eritrean had written himself another fine chapter in his meteoric rise; another historic moment for African cycling, and a feel-good result to be savoured by all. Victory and the pink jersey at the first time of asking would have been a fitting reward for a rider whose presence we will surely see atop the podium over the next couple of weeks.

But for all Girmay’s grit, Van der Poel is from another planet. Like Taylor Swift, the indefatigable Dutchman has a knack of delivering hit after hit; like Tyson Fury, no one can knock him down; like Midas, whatever he touches turns to gold – or, at least, turns to whatever colour the relevant race represents. So, after delivering the yellow jersey that always eluded his grandfather Raymond Poulidor, it was only natural that Van der Poel should become Van der Pink.

Of course, it was harder than simply deciding he’d like to change jerseys. As Van der Poel admitted afterwards, he found himself boxed in on the final climb and needed to dig deep to fight back into contention. But where other riders would have thrown in the towel, Van der Poel – by far the most talented all-round rider of his or any generation in the current pro peloton – found what he needed to deny what would have been an equally deserved victory for Girmay.

The two were head and shoulders above the others – so much so that Ewan, who had done admirably to stay in contention on the climb, made the rookie mistake of touching his front wheel to the back wheel of Girmay with the finish line gaping. The Australian hit the deck hard but will live to contest another day.

At this point it’s worth noting that this is not the first time Ewan has ended up in a heap on the finishing straight after a freak accident. Something similar happened in Stage 3 of the Tour last year, ending his race and with it his plans to ride all three Grand Tours in 2021.

Van der Poel’s latest triumph means his Alpecin-Fenix team have now won the opening sprint of the previous four Grand Tours: after Tim Merlier’s Giro-Tour double, fellow Belgian Jasper Philipsen kept the run going at the 2021 Vuelta. If it’s amazing that Van der Poel was not part of that run previously, it’s somewhat inexorable that he is now.

Stars of the spring, Van der Poel and Girmay, in pink and white, are on course to become stars of this early summer, too. And we’ve yet to even touch foot on Italian soil.

– – –

Mathieu van der Poel and Biniam Girmay are so strong their rivals are literally falling over trying to follow them.

Mark Cavendish had checked himself out of contention long before the road to the castle at Visegrad tilted up to its maximum eight percent; Arnaud Demare, for all his Poggio prowess, did not go the distance, while Fernando Gaviria was one of the last to let the elastic snap.

But after the thrills and spills that saw both Lawrence Naesen and Lennard Kamna try gutsy long-range attacks, and Cavendish’s Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team-mate Davide Ballerini crash out of the reckoning, came the moment that, in retrospect, seemed utterly inescapable.

Spoiler: it didn’t include Mathieu van der Poel. Or if it did, none of us could see him – perhaps on account of that olive green camouflage jersey, which worked a treat as Alpecin-Fenix’s main man ghosted past his fading colleagues, biding his time and keeping his powder dry until the last possible moment.

No, the slap in the face came when Girmay and Ewan found themselves on the front inside the last few hundred metres and it all dawned on us that, of course, the in-form Eritrean and his pocket-rocket Australian counterpart had the uphill armoury to last the course.

When they struck out for the line, Van der Poel was forced to give up his back seat and to react. The 27-year-old Dutchman won on a similar slope at Mur de Bretagne in his debut Tour de France last year on his way to a maiden maillot jaune. But he did so from the front, having already taken bonus seconds on the first ascent of the climb.

This time, Van der Poel came from behind with all the venom of a rider who earlier this spring added a second Tour of Flanders triumph to his name. It was somewhat fitting that the man he needed to beat to ensure the win was another rider who had enjoyed something of a flourishing spring: Girmay, whose victory at Gent-Wevelgem was a first ever for an African in a cobbled classic.

Van der Poel and Girmay are both making their debuts at the Giro but treated their Corsa Rosa curtain-raiser as if they were old hands at this game. Relatively speaking, Van der Poel is an old hand – his eventful week in France last July filled with more experiences than some achieve in an entire career. That perhaps makes what Girmay did out there under the Hungarian sun all the more impressive – for this was his first roll of the Grand Tour dice, at an age considerably younger than his counterpart, with a result far more impressive than Van der Poel’s own 20th place finish in the opening stage of the 2021 Tour.

For a brief moment it looked like the 22-year-old Eritrean had written himself another fine chapter in his meteoric rise; another historic moment for African cycling, and a feel-good result to be savoured by all. Victory and the pink jersey at the first time of asking would have been a fitting reward for a rider whose presence we will surely see atop the podium over the next couple of weeks.

But for all Girmay’s grit, Van der Poel is from another planet. Like Taylor Swift, the indefatigable Dutchman has a knack of delivering hit after hit; like Tyson Fury, no one can knock him down; like Midas, whatever he touches turns to gold – or, at least, turns to whatever colour the relevant race represents. So, after delivering the yellow jersey that always eluded his grandfather Raymond Poulidor, it was only natural that Van der Poel should become Van der Pink.

Of course, it was harder than simply deciding he’d like to change jerseys. As Van der Poel admitted afterwards, he found himself boxed in on the final climb and needed to dig deep to fight back into contention. But where other riders would have thrown in the towel, Van der Poel – by far the most talented all-round rider of his or any generation in the current pro peloton – found what he needed to deny what would have been an equally deserved victory for Girmay.

The two were head and shoulders above the others – so much so that Ewan, who had done admirably to stay in contention on the climb, made the rookie mistake of touching his front wheel to the back wheel of Girmay with the finish line gaping. The Australian hit the deck hard but will live to contest another day.

At this point it’s worth noting that this is not the first time Ewan has ended up in a heap on the finishing straight after a freak accident. Something similar happened in Stage 3 of the Tour last year, ending his race and with it his plans to ride all three Grand Tours in 2021.

Van der Poel’s latest triumph means his Alpecin-Fenix team have now won the opening sprint of the previous four Grand Tours: after Tim Merlier’s Giro-Tour double, fellow Belgian Jasper Philipsen kept the run going at the 2021 Vuelta. If it’s amazing that Van der Poel was not part of that run previously, it’s somewhat inexorable that he is now.

Stars of the spring, Van der Poel and Girmay, in pink and white, are on course to become stars of this early summer, too. And we’ve yet to even touch foot on Italian soil.

– – –

If the whole world expected it, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) still had to deliver the goods. The 27-year-old Dutchman did just that – keeping his powder dry right to the bitter end of the deciding climb to surge past Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay of Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert in the 195km opening stage of the Giro from Budapest to Visegrad in Hungary.

As Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) dug deep to stay in contact, the Australian sprinter touched wheels with Girmay and hit the deck just ahead of the line – allowing Spain’s Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) to take third place ahead of Denmark’s Magnus Cort (EF Education-EastPost).

Girmay, the Eritrean trailblazer who became the first African to win a cobbled classic earlier this spring, looked destined to write another glorious chapter in his remarkable rise. But the 22-year-old was just caught by Van der Poel, who timed his final kick to perfection to take the race’s first maglia rosa – on a ramped finish quite similar to that at Mur de Bretagne where he secured a maiden maillot jaune at last year’s Tour de France.

“I knew positioning was going to be the key to the win today,” Van der Poel said after his latest triumph of what is provinf to be another stellar season. “It was quite difficult at times and I found myself boxed in and I had to use up a lot of energy to catch up with the guys in front. My legs were full of lactic at the end and it really hurt – but it’s incredible after the yellow jersey to wear the pink.”

Ewan had done extremely well to stay in contention on the five-kilometre climb to the castle at Visegrad, where the maximum 8% gradient did for the chances of fellow fastmen Arnaud Dermare, Mark Cavendish and Fernando Gaviria.

Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) completed the top five while Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) stole an early march in the general classification battle after taking sixth place on the right side of a split that saw the 2019 champion gain a four-second advantage over his rivals.

Four bonus seconds is the advantage pink jersey Van der Poel will take into Saturday’s 9.2km time trial in Budapest, while Girmay’s superb ride on his own debut was rewarded with the Eritrean taking the white jersey as best young rider.

A largely uneventful opening day of the 105th edition of La Corsa rosa saw Drone Hopper-Androni Giacattoli teammates Filippo Tagliani and Mattia Bais go clear of the peloton right from the gun after a long neutral section spirited the riders out of the Hungarian capital.

The Italian duo managed to build up a maximum lead of almost 11 minutes but this had been halved by the time Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-PremierTech) led his maglia ciclamino rivals through the intermediate sprint with around 118km remaining. With the Alpecin-Fenix, Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert and EF Education-EasyPost teams of Van der Poel, Girmay and Cort combining on the front of the pack, this advantage dropped well below the two-minute mark entering the final 50km of the day.

The escapees were eventually caught inside the final 14 kilometres ahead of a fierce jostling for positions ahead of the decisive climb to the line. It was a battle from which Britain’s Mark Cavendish checked out, the 36-year-old veteran wilfully slipping off the back despite an earlier bike change to a lighter climbing model.

When the fireworks were lit on the climb, Cavendish’s Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl saw their man for the finish, the Italian Davide Ballerini, hit the deck in one of the two crashes which marred the stage climax.

Belgium’s Lawrence Naesen (Ag2R-Citroen) and Germany’s Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) both tried their luck with long-range attacks before the UAE Team Emirates duo of Davide Formolo and Diego Ulissi brought things back together inside the final kilometre.

Ewan was one of the few pure sprinters who had managed to avoid being tailed off by the gradient – but the 27-year-old Australian perhaps launched a bit too early and he was already well beaten by the time he tumbled while trying in vain to latch onto Girmay’s wheel.

Stage 1 results and GC

• Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) 04:35:28
• Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) + 00
• Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) + 00
• Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) + 00
• Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) + 00
• Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) + 00
• Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) + 00
• Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) + 00
• Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroen Team) + 04
• Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Trek-Segafredo) + 04

– – –

If the whole world expected it, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) still had to deliver the goods. The 27-year-old Dutchman did just that – keeping his powder dry right to the bitter end of the deciding climb to surge past Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay of Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert in the 195km opening stage of the Giro from Budapest to Visegrad in Hungary.

As Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) dug deep to stay in contact, the Australian sprinter touched wheels with Girmay and hit the deck just ahead of the line – allowing Spain’s Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) to take third place ahead of Denmark’s Magnus Cort (EF Education-EastPost).

Girmay, the Eritrean trailblazer who became the first African to win a cobbled classic earlier this spring, looked destined to write another glorious chapter in his remarkable rise. But the 22-year-old was just caught by Van der Poel, who timed his final kick to perfection to take the race’s first maglia rosa – on a ramped finish quite similar to that at Mur de Bretagne where he secured a maiden maillot jaune at last year’s Tour de France.

“I knew positioning was going to be the key to the win today,” Van der Poel said after his latest triumph of what is provinf to be another stellar season. “It was quite difficult at times and I found myself boxed in and I had to use up a lot of energy to catch up with the guys in front. My legs were full of lactic at the end and it really hurt – but it’s incredible after the yellow jersey to wear the pink.”

Ewan had done extremely well to stay in contention on the five-kilometre climb to the castle at Visegrad, where the maximum 8% gradient did for the chances of fellow fastmen Arnaud Dermare, Mark Cavendish and Fernando Gaviria.

Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) completed the top five while Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) stole an early march in the general classification battle after taking sixth place on the right side of a split that saw the 2019 champion gain a four-second advantage over his rivals.

Four bonus seconds is the advantage pink jersey Van der Poel will take into Saturday’s 9.2km time trial in Budapest, while Girmay’s superb ride on his own debut was rewarded with the Eritrean taking the white jersey as best young rider.

A largely uneventful opening day of the 105th edition of La Corsa rosa saw Drone Hopper-Androni Giacattoli teammates Filippo Tagliani and Mattia Bais go clear of the peloton right from the gun after a long neutral section spirited the riders out of the Hungarian capital.

The Italian duo managed to build up a maximum lead of almost 11 minutes but this had been halved by the time Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-PremierTech) led his maglia ciclamino rivals through the intermediate sprint with around 118km remaining. With the Alpecin-Fenix, Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert and EF Education-EasyPost teams of Van der Poel, Girmay and Cort combining on the front of the pack, this advantage dropped well below the two-minute mark entering the final 50km of the day.

The escapees were eventually caught inside the final 14 kilometres ahead of a fierce jostling for positions ahead of the decisive climb to the line. It was a battle from which Britain’s Mark Cavendish checked out, the 36-year-old veteran wilfully slipping off the back despite an earlier bike change to a lighter climbing model.

When the fireworks were lit on the climb, Cavendish’s Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl saw their man for the finish, the Italian Davide Ballerini, hit the deck in one of the two crashes which marred the stage climax.

Belgium’s Lawrence Naesen (Ag2R-Citroen) and Germany’s Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) both tried their luck with long-range attacks before the UAE Team Emirates duo of Davide Formolo and Diego Ulissi brought things back together inside the final kilometre.

Ewan was one of the few pure sprinters who had managed to avoid being tailed off by the gradient – but the 27-year-old Australian perhaps launched a bit too early and he was already well beaten by the time he tumbled while trying in vain to latch onto Girmay’s wheel.

Stage 1 results and GC

• Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) 04:35:28
• Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) + 00
• Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) + 00
• Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) + 00
• Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) + 00
• Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) + 00
• Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) + 00
• Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) + 00
• Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroen Team) + 04
• Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Trek-Segafredo) + 04

– – –

If the whole world expected it, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) still had to deliver the goods. The 27-year-old Dutchman did just that – keeping his powder dry right to the bitter end of the deciding climb to surge past Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay of Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert in the 195km opening stage of the Giro from Budapest to Visegrad in Hungary.

As Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) dug deep to stay in contact, the Australian sprinter touched wheels with Girmay and hit the deck just ahead of the line – allowing Spain’s Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) to take third place ahead of Denmark’s Magnus Cort (EF Education-EastPost).

Girmay, the Eritrean trailblazer who became the first African to win a cobbled classic earlier this spring, looked destined to write another glorious chapter in his remarkable rise. But the 22-year-old was just caught by Van der Poel, who timed his final kick to perfection to take the race’s first maglia rosa – on a ramped finish quite similar to that at Mur de Bretagne where he secured a maiden maillot jaune at last year’s Tour de France.

“I knew positioning was going to be the key to the win today,” Van der Poel said after his latest triumph of what is provinf to be another stellar season. “It was quite difficult at times and I found myself boxed in and I had to use up a lot of energy to catch up with the guys in front. My legs were full of lactic at the end and it really hurt – but it’s incredible after the yellow jersey to wear the pink.”

Ewan had done extremely well to stay in contention on the five-kilometre climb to the castle at Visegrad, where the maximum 8% gradient did for the chances of fellow fastmen Arnaud Dermare, Mark Cavendish and Fernando Gaviria.

Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) completed the top five while Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) stole an early march in the general classification battle after taking sixth place on the right side of a split that saw the 2019 champion gain a four-second advantage over his rivals.

Four bonus seconds is the advantage pink jersey Van der Poel will take into Saturday’s 9.2km time trial in Budapest, while Girmay’s superb ride on his own debut was rewarded with the Eritrean taking the white jersey as best young rider.

A largely uneventful opening day of the 105th edition of La Corsa rosa saw Drone Hopper-Androni Giacattoli teammates Filippo Tagliani and Mattia Bais go clear of the peloton right from the gun after a long neutral section spirited the riders out of the Hungarian capital.

The Italian duo managed to build up a maximum lead of almost 11 minutes but this had been halved by the time Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-PremierTech) led his maglia ciclamino rivals through the intermediate sprint with around 118km remaining. With the Alpecin-Fenix, Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert and EF Education-EasyPost teams of Van der Poel, Girmay and Cort combining on the front of the pack, this advantage dropped well below the two-minute mark entering the final 50km of the day.

The escapees were eventually caught inside the final 14 kilometres ahead of a fierce jostling for positions ahead of the decisive climb to the line. It was a battle from which Britain’s Mark Cavendish checked out, the 36-year-old veteran wilfully slipping off the back despite an earlier bike change to a lighter climbing model.

When the fireworks were lit on the climb, Cavendish’s Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl saw their man for the finish, the Italian Davide Ballerini, hit the deck in one of the two crashes which marred the stage climax.

Belgium’s Lawrence Naesen (Ag2R-Citroen) and Germany’s Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) both tried their luck with long-range attacks before the UAE Team Emirates duo of Davide Formolo and Diego Ulissi brought things back together inside the final kilometre.

Ewan was one of the few pure sprinters who had managed to avoid being tailed off by the gradient – but the 27-year-old Australian perhaps launched a bit too early and he was already well beaten by the time he tumbled while trying in vain to latch onto Girmay’s wheel.

Stage 1 results and GC

• Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) 04:35:28
• Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) + 00
• Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) + 00
• Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) + 00
• Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) + 00
• Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) + 00
• Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) + 00
• Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) + 00
• Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroen Team) + 04
• Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Trek-Segafredo) + 04

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