Saturday May 4, 2024 at 5:18 PM
The first stage of the Giro d’Italia was not won by Tadej Pogacar. Jhonatan Narváez was the only rider able to follow the Slovenian on the steep wall of San Vito and then beat the declared winner in the sprint. Thymen Arensman had a bad day and immediately lost two minutes to the other classification men.
The new edition of RIDE Magazine is now available! Our new 188-page spring edition is full of wonderful cycling stories about Mathieu van der Poel, Lotte Kopecky, Demi Vollering, Sepp Kuss and Matej Mohoric. Insure your copy and order it online now for only €9.95. Would you like to receive RIDE extra cheaply? Then take out a subscription now and receive a 20% discount!
The long wait is over! Today the first big tour of the year started with the Giro d’Italia 2024. The opening stage around Turin offered early opportunities for puncheur and climber types. Or was there actually only one contender named Tadej Pogacar? Although the first stage was relatively short at 140 kilometers, the organization of the Italian race rated the stage as a 3-star stage.
The riders encountered three categorized climbs along the way – with the climb to Berzano Di San Pietro (4.4 km at 4.1%), the famous mountain towards the basilica of Superga (8 km at 4.3%) and the Colle Maddalena (6.1 km at 7.4%) – which meant they had to conquer a total of 1,850 meters of altitude. And that wasn’t all, because in the absolute final the steep wall followed San Vito (1.4 km at 9.4%).
The first escapees in the 107th Giro d’Italia – photo: Cor Vos
Flight of the day arrives early
It turned out to be no reason for many riders to take it easy. The first attack attempts by Giro debutant Dries De Pooter were nipped in the bud, but then six adventurers were given the space to organize an early escape. With Andrea Pietrobon (Team Polti-Kometa) and Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani), two Italians were represented, as well as the French Louis Barré (Arkea-B&B), Nicolas Debeaumarché (Cofidis) and Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty) and the Eritrean Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek).
In the peloton, where the momentum had now completely lost, the team of top favorite Pogacar took control. Led by the strong Norwegian mileage eater Vegard Stake Laengen, UAE Emirates managed to keep the leading group within striking distance. The lead of the six never really exceeded two minutes and so it was actually a countdown to a regrouping. However, the front runners were not left completely empty-handed: they were allowed to compete for the very first mountain points in this Tour of Italy.
Vegard Stake Laengen keeps the difference with the leading group within limits – photo: Cor Vos
Battle for the mountain jersey
On the flanks of the first climb in the 107th Giro – the one to Berzano Di San Pietro (4.4 km at 4.1%) – there was a lot of fighting around these mountain points. Pietrobon tried to surprise his fellow escapees with an early start, but was outflanked by his compatriot Fiorelli well before the top. The fast Italian managed to keep everyone behind him with his well-timed sprint and thus gained three mountain points. Barré was good for two points, Ghebreigzabhier grabbed the remaining mountain point.
After the first climb of the day, Fiorelli also took care of the first intermediate sprint. This is also where the men of Alpecin-Deceuninck came out of their cage for the first time. The Belgian formation put no fewer than four men in the lead to bring their sprinter Kaden Groves into position. The Australian was also the first of the peloton to cross the line and thus strengthened his candidacy for the purple points jersey. Then it was a straight trot to the historic climb of the Superga (8 km at 4.3%).
Ghebreigzabhier attacks the Superga
On the steeper slopes of the climb, Calmejane decided to take the plunge, but the Frenchman was quickly put in his place by Ghebreigzabhier. The Eritrean was the best climber in the leading group on paper and this also became apparent in practice. The Lidl-Trek rider quickly built up a nice lead over Calmejane, Fiorelli and Pietrobon, the three first pursuers. Barré and Debeaumarché were now nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, Ghebreigzabhier was the first to reach the top of the Superga.
Calmejane and Ghebreigzabhier turned out to be the strongest escapees – photo: Cor Vos
In the subsequent descent, the Eritrean was joined by Calmejane and so we thundered with two front runners to the final phase, which was heralded by a first passage over the steep slope of San Vito. There was not much to experience here, but in the run-up to the toughest climb of the day, the Colle Maddalena, the nervousness in the peloton increased noticeably. And the pace was considerably increased by the men of UAE Emirates. And that was necessary, as the difference with the leaders had increased towards three minutes.
Chaff from the wheat: Arensman and Bardet unload on Colle Maddalena
Just before the foot of the Colle Maddalena, the peloton was startled by a crash. Robert Gesink was there and Domenico Pozzovivo, the leader of VF Group-Bardiani and working on his last Giro, was also held up. This was a very bad moment in particular for Pozzovivo, as UAE Emirates had no intention of slowing down. In fact, the formation wanted to separate the wheat from the chaff and therefore gave up on it uphill. Mikkel Bjerg and Felix Großschartner managed to thin things out.
The hard pace of Bjerg in particular claimed several victims. For example, Valentin Paret-Peintre – number four in the Tour of the Alps – had to go overboard early. But even more striking was the withdrawal of Thymen Arensman. The shadow leader of INEOS Grenadiers and last year’s number six clearly did not have the best day and lost a lot of time. Arensman was not the only top player who was reported to be in trouble, because things also happened too fast for Romain Bardet and Luke Plapp. The tough Pozzovivo, on the other hand, managed to get back into the swing of things.
Pogacar was fairly isolated in the final – photo: Cor Vos
Strong Calmejane holds up well, anticipation turns out to be the magic word
At the peak of the race, Calmejane had said goodbye to Ghebreigzabhier and the experienced Frenchman proved able to be the first to reach the top of the Colle Maddalena, thus securing the first mountain jersey, although he had to do it from his toes. come. This also seemed to be his last achievement, because the group of favorites was hot on the Frenchman’s heels at that moment. However, Calmejane managed to deepen his limited lead in the descent.
UAE Emirates had now taken off a big coat, leaving Pogacar virtually alone. The Slovenian could only count on the presence of Rafal Majka, and of course the competition saw this too. Eight riders hoped to benefit from this. Nicola Conci, Maximilian Schachmann, Alex Baudin, Mikkel Honoré, Alessandro De Marchi, Giulio Pellizzari and Damiano Caruso found each other in their attacking urge and managed to cross over to the lone leader Calmejane. And Pogacar? He was thus forced onto the defensive.
Conci runs off alone, Pogacar shakes the tree
But it turned out that nothing was left over for the Slovenian, as the difference between the two groups was not yet too big. At seven kilometers from the finish, the lead of the eight at the front was clocked at twenty seconds. The cooperation in the front group was also not optimal. Conci watched it with dismay and decided to jump away from the leading group. The Italian from Alpecin-Deceuninck immediately made a nice breach and was the first to start the final passage of the San Vito wall.
On this steep wall – at more than 9% – the price completely ignited. Pogacar started the steep climb in a not-so-best position and had to do everything he could to get back to the front. The big favorite threw the bat into the fowl, raced past everything and everyone and even went up and over Conci. But, one rider turned out to be able to follow. A particularly strong Jhonatan Narváez managed to answer several jabs from Pogacar and so they started the descent of the San Vito together.
Pogacar, Narváez and Schachmann sprint for the win – photo: Cor Vos
Narváez pulls off a stunt
The equally strong Schachmannn managed to return to Pogacar and Schachmann just after the top and so we started the last kilometer and final sprint with three riders. Pogacar was considered the obvious winner of the opening stage, but now had to compete against the on paper faster Narváez in the sprint. The Ecuadorian remained icy calm in the sprint, responded to Pogacar’s start and managed to convincingly counter the Slovenian. He achieved a stage victory in the Tour of Italy for the second time in his career and can also wear the first pink jersey.
Schachmann had to settle for second place in Turin, Pogacar finished ‘only’ third in the sprint. Then we had to wait for the arrival of the other classification riders. After the finish of the surprisingly strong Baudin, Conci won the sprint for fifth place, ahead of two Belgians: Quinten Hermans and Mauri Vansevenant. This group also included Antonio Tiberi, Geraint Thomas, Caruso, Daniel Felipe Martínez, Cian Uijtdebroeks and Ben O’Connor.
