Marcel Kittel wins stage two of Giro d'Italia
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Updated 07/05/2016 at 17:26 GMT
Marcel Kittel's 100% record on the Giro d'Italia continued as the powerful German eased to a comfortable sprint win in stage two in the Dutch town of Nijmegen to move within one second of the maglia rosa.
Marcel Kittel (Etixx) - Giro d'Italia 2016
Image credit: AFP
Etixx-QuickStep's prize asset Kittel – who has never lost a road stage in the Giro d'Italia although has yet to race one in Italy – won the 190-kilometre stage from Arnhem by a country mile over Frenchman Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Italy's Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida).
Ten bonus seconds at the finish meant Kittel moved into third place in the overall standings just one second behind Dutch race leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) and second-place Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) of Slovenia.
Curiously, Kittel's three wins in three Giro road stages to date have all come on foreign shores: in fact, Kittel has yet to take part in any professional race on Italian soil. Kittel's win in Nijmegan – reputedly the oldest town in the Netherlands – came after victories in both Belfast and Dublin in the 2014 Giro d'Italia before the former Giant-Alpecin rider quit that edition of La Corsa Rosa.
“I was very focused on the Giro and the start here and it’s great to be a winner in the Netherlands,” Kittel said after his eighth win of the season – more than any other rider in the WorldTour.
Quizzed about the possibility of moving into the race lead on Sunday, Kittel remained coy and calm. “I always said that the GC was not a target. Tomorrow we will just concentrate on the sprint and if that works out then everything else will follow,” he said.
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Kittel dominates sprint to claim Giro stage 2
If pink eludes Kittel – for now – then the 27-year-old German will start Sunday’s third stage with the red points jersey after he increased his tally to 56 points, some 16 clear of Dutch veteran Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo).
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Maarten Tjallingii of Team Lotto Jumbo (R), Sam Bewley (C) of Team Orica Green EDGE and Grega Bole of Team CCC Spandi Polkowice (L) compete in the second stage of the Giro d'Italia 2016 in Arnhem, on May 7, 2016
Image credit: AFP
Tjallingii was part of a three-man break that edged ahead of the peloton 10 kilometres into Saturday’s second stage, which was played out under blue skies and a warm sun as hundreds of thousands of Dutch fans lined the roads in a sea of orange and pink.
Riding his last Grand Tour before retiring, Tjallingi won both intermediate sprints as the trio – which also included Spaniard Omar Fraile (Dimension Data) and Italy’s Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini) – built up a maximum lead of nine and a half minutes over the pack.
Fraile, who won the polka dot mountains jersey in his debut Vuelta a Espana last season for former team Caja Rural, picked up where he left off by darting clear of his rivals and amassing maximum points on the only climb of the day, the fourth-category Berg en Dal, to secure the first blue jersey of the 99th edition of the race.
The gap then came tumbling down as the teams of the main sprinters combined on the front of the pack to reel in the escapees. Berlato, the last man standing, was caught with just 10 kilometres remaining ahead of the second of two city circuits in Nijmegen. By now the sprint trains were jostling for positions as Etixx held back until just two kilometres to go.
The FDJ team of Demare looked to wrest control of the sprint and it was the Milan-San Remo champion who launched with Kittel on his back wheel inside the final few hundred metres. But Kittel was incomparably strong as he swung past, confining Demare to a distant second ahead of Modolo, Dutchman Moreno Hofland (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Italy’s Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani-CSF).
Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) could only muster seventh place while Elia Viviani (Team Sky) and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) did not even make the top ten.
Dutchman Dumoulin, winner of Friday’s opening time trial, finished safely in the pack after what he described as a “pretty easy” day in the saddle in front of the cheering home fans.
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Dutch Tom Dumoulin (R) of Team Giant Alpecin competes in the second stage of the Giro d'Italia 2016 in Arnhem, on May 7, 2016
Image credit: AFP
“It was a pretty easy day for us to control and we were never really in trouble,” the rangy Giant-Alpecin rider said. “We had a really nice day in front of the home crowds. We’re a big cycling country and I’m really happy to enjoy this experience in the pink jersey.”
Sunday’s 190-kilometre stage three from Nijmegen to Arnhem is almost a carbon copy of Saturday’s stage and included a loop eastwards into the Dutch countryside, two intermediate sprints and one fourth-category climb ahead of two laps and an expected bunch sprint. Only a fool would bet against a Kittel win and with it the maglia rosa.
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