Filippo Ganna has entered the Giro doing what he likes the most which is destroying the competition in a fast short time-trial and has confortably taken the first maglia rosa of the race by taking the win in front of the impressive duo of Edoardo Affini and Tobias Foss.
Positive: Almeida was the first of the GC riders, he and Evenepoel have put themselves as expect in the pole position when it comes to the GC riders, although they haven't put in big time to most of their rivals they have put a dent on some already like...
Negative: Landa who lost 32 seconds to Almeida, Bardet 35 and 40 to Dan Martin. Of course these gaps were expected, but are meaningful nevertheless.
The Route
Stage 2 will be the first opportunity for the sprinters to show what they're made off and here there should be no way they'll be disrupted, one of the few pure sprint stages for this year's edition. Starting in Stupinigi the stage will go through the sedimentary Po valley and the finale in Novara is one that should be fast and furious, opening up the fight for the maglia ciclamino.
The finale doesn't have anything too hard to understand. A 90º degree corner at the 4Km mark and another one with around 1.5Km to go but both are going around the outside of a roundabout they aren't technical. In the last kilometer there's another roundabout being ridden over but besides that it's a very simple finale, with wide enough roads and a small tilt to the right in the final couple hundred meters.
The Weather
Nothing that will bother the riders.
The Favourites
It'll be a pure sprint, one where coming from the pole position will no doubt be the best place, there won't be a headwind benefiting those coming from behind. I usually tend to look at the leadouts on the first sprint and I think that's the best thing to do now, after tomorrow we'll have a better idea of which sprinters and leadouts are working properly:
Caleb Ewan - De Buyst - Kluge - Oldani
Dylan Groenewegen - Dekker - Affini - van Emden
Fernando Gaviria - Molano - Richeze
Giacomo Nizzolo - Walscheid - Wisniowski - Campenaerts
Tim Merlier - Krieger - De Bondt
Peter Sagan - Oss - Bodnar
Elia Viviani - Consonni - A.Viviani - Sabatini
Davide Cimolai - Bevin - Dowsett - Brandle
Max Kanter - Arndt - Denz
Furthermore you have some sprinters like Matteo Moschetti, Andrea Vendrame, Filippo Fiorelli, Manuel Belletti, Albert Torres, and Intermarche duo Andrea Pasqualon and Riccardo Minali who can finish along the Top10 and with some luck perhaps target more than that, although they will naturally struggle a bit with leadouts.
Prediction Time
⭐ Sagan, E.Viviani, Cimolai, Kanter, Moschetti, Vendrame
I think Jumbo-Visma will nail the leadout with their new young weapon David Dekker who is going to be the fastest 2nd man, able to position Dylan Groenewegen for a win upon his return to the sprints after so long.
Make sure to let me in on your opinion, and of course follow me on twitter for the latest updates!
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