BELGIAN TIM MERLIER won a sprint finish for the second stage of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday with Italy’s Filippo Ganna holding the leader’s pink jersey.
Ireland’s Dan Martin finished in 64th while Nicolas Roche came home in 95th place. That leaves Roche and Martin in 46th and 106th place respectively in the general classification ahead of the third stage.
Merlier, riding for Alpecin, finished ahead of two Italians, European champion Giacomo Nizzolo and Elia Viviani, to claim his fourth win of the season.
Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen finished fourth on his return after a nine-month ban for his part in a crash that left compatriot Fabio Jakobsen with serious injuries at last year’s Tour of Poland.
“I’m very happy with this victory in my first sprint at a Grand Tour,” said Merlier.
“I was confident before tackling the Giro. I knew it was important to be well-positioned at the last roundabout.
“When I came out of it I only thought of going faster and faster afterwards. I went from far out, at about 250 metres.
“I still had enough to finish it off. My preparation at altitude has been good.”
Opening time-trial stage winner Ganna of Ineos holds the overall race lead after the 179-kilometre run between Stupinigi near Turin to Novara in his native Piedmont.
The Italian finished among the bunched sprint finish which included his Ineos teammate and 2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal.
“I did the time bonus sprint just to take the bonification (time bonus) away from the others, thinking of the coming days if Egan or Pavel (Sivakov) are fighting for the Maglia Rosa,” said Ganna, who finished 20th in the same time as the leaders.
“I saw Remco (Evenepoel) was trying to go for it too. But Gianni (Moscon) and myself did a good job.
“I enjoyed hearing the crowd of Piedmont yelling my name today. We know tomorrow is a perfect stage for Peter Sagan.”
Monday’s 190km third stage between Biella and Canale includes three climbs in the second half of the race including one 15km from the finishing line.
Another fella who wasted his talent. Similarly to anthony stokes. Also stephen ireland, those 3 should have backboned the irish team for the last 10 years.
@Gareth Ward: not sure on Stokes i think he might have been found out early in his career that he was below average but the other 2 ya
@Wheresmyjumper: Maybe ya, but he had the talent as a young lad and just didn’t work hard enough at it! The other 2 though, imagine if they were our midfield partnership for the last 12 years!
@Gareth Ward:
We achieved more with wheels in midfield than we ever could of with Gibson or Ireland, Glenn is a pro who wanted to play . Gibson never gave it his all to any team he played for. How Stephen Ireland was treated by both Man City and the FAI is a totally different story . Stephen Ireland could of achieved a lot more in the game and I’ve a lot of sympathy for him and his story . Gibson however I wouldn’t trust him to hand out the jerseys and has never looked like a player who cared about anything except for a gargle.
@Shane Lad: Ya Whelan has been grand like when we’ve had no one else. But what im saying is if Gibson had delivered on his potential he would have been so much better than Whelan
@Gareth Ward:”grand when we had no one else” that’s harsh, whelan a fantastic pro put a few them boys to shame, it’s not as if we never had any other options in midfeild either and we had throw poor Glenn there he was there on merit.
@Gareth Ward: Harsh on Warren. He’s only 21.
@Wheresmyjumper: He wasn’t found out, he was fond of the drink which most young Irish players were back then.
A tented lad on his day but wasted his career I’m afraid
We achieved more with wheels in midfield over the last few years than we ever would of with Ireland or Gibson. Glenn is a pro who wants to play . I’ve a lot of sympathy for Stephen Ireland and his story. The way he was treated by city and the FAI was disgusting and he could of achieved a lot more in the game . As for Gibson, he’s never given his all to any team he’s been in because he doesn’t care.
@Shane Lad: I would say taking everything Stephen Ireland says as gospel truth is very dangerous. There’s a reason his career went the way it did after packing in Ireland and then City- perceived “disgusting” treatment with both can’t have applied.
@Shane Lad: “The way he was treated by city and the FAI was disgusting ”
Yes because what happened with Stephen Ireland was everyone elses fault but him, pull the other one Shane.