Tadej Pogacar, huge favorite for the Tour of Italy, has the opportunity to seize the pink jersey from the first stage on Saturday in Turin where he launches the biggest challenge of his career.
The opening weekend of this 107th edition offers rugged terrain suitable for adventurers and the big raids that the Slovenian loves, in the running this year for a Giro-Tour double not seen since 1998.
On Saturday, during a compact stage (140 km) starting from Venaria Reale, on the outskirts of Turin, the Colle della Maddalena presents an ideal launching pad for attackers who know how to climb. The summit is planted 22 km from the finish, after an ascent of 6.1 km at an average of 7.4%, followed by a rapid descent towards Turin.
Follow this first step live
After a quick procession, the real start of this first stage was given. The 107th edition of the Giro has launched and several riders have attempted to take a first breakaway.
Six riders thus isolated themselves at the head of the race. Louis Barré (Arkéa – B&B Hotels), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Nicolas Debeaumarché (Cofidis), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek), Andréa Pietrobon (Team Polti Kometa), Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF- Faizanè) constituted this escape. The latter did not worry the peloton which left behind. They had a lead of 1m35 with 125 kilometers to go.
Pogacar’s team managed this gap which increased to 75 seconds, 25 kilometers further. The Team-Emirates team continued its work and let the gap grow to 2min 30 at 70 kilometers from the final race. The breakaway then became dislocated. Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier continued his effort alone.
