Good morning and welcome to our live blog for stage two of this year's Giro d'Italia. After an explosive opening day (did anyone predict Jhonatan Narváez to win?), it's time for the first summit finish of the race – as early as day two!
Tadej Pogačar eked out a small gap over his GC rivals yesterday – he sits 14 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas – and should he win today, he'll almost certainly take the pink jersey.
I'll be bringing you all the action here, blow by blow. If you want to get in touch with me, don't hesitate to reach out to me on Twitter - @t_davidson.
Here's what's in store for the peloton today. After a pair of category three climbs, the race will finish on the category one Santuario di Oropa – 11.7km at an average gradient of 6.2%.
It is, I think, the earliest summit finish in the race since 1989.
The last time the Giro d'Italia visited Oropa was in 2017, when Tom Dumoulin won the stage en route to claiming his first, and only, Grand Tour.
The climb previously took on legendary status in 1999 when Marco Pantani, then the pink jersey wearer, had a mechanical on its early slopes and had to get off his bike. Having lost 45 seconds to the pack, 'Il Pirata' then bolted up the gradient, tagging and passing everyone to win the stage.
Could there be more drama today?
Here's how the general classification stands going into stage two:
1. Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, in 3:14:23
2. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, +3s
3. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, +6s
4. Alex Baudin (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +16s
5. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +17s
6. Nicola Conci (Ita) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +18s
7. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +20s
8. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
9. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
10. Attila Valter (Hun) Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time
If you didn't catch Narváez's victory yesterday, fear not, Joseph Lycett has you covered with this race report of the action.
You can also find all the other classification leaders in our dedicated article.
Today's stage timings are as follows:
Start: 11:55 (BST)
Expected finish: 16:13 (BST)
The below tweet has the local times.
2024 #GirodItalia - Stage 2️⃣ 🚩 San Francesco Al Campo🏁 Santuario Di Oropa📏 161 KM⏰ 12:55 - 17:13⭐⭐⭐ pic.twitter.com/mVvdgpP7gSMay 5, 2024
Still an hour and a half from the stage start, it's breakfast time for the riders right now (and me).
Poor Geraint Thomas is eating on his own. He's also feasting on what appears to be a large bowl of rice, topped with soy sauce or syrup of some kind. The breakfast of champions?
If you're wondering, I'm having a bowl of fruit and fibre. I've got a pair of crumpets for afterwards, too.
Buongiorno ragazzi 👍 Top bants as usual 🤪 pic.twitter.com/FSlPiCJllIMay 5, 2024
Not sure how to watch today's stage? Check out our live stream guide.
In short, it's Eurosport/discovery+ in the UK and Europe, Flobikes in the US, and SBS in Australia. You can also tune in anywhere using a VPN - details of how to do so are in the guide.
The Giro, of course, is not the only Grand Tour taking place today. The final stage of the Vuelta Femenina is currently underway, with the peloton making their way to a summit finale.
Tour de France Femmes champion Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) went into the final day as the race leader, with a 52-second advantage over Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek). But with two category one climbs on the menu, and tired legs, anything can still happen.
That race is expected to finish early, around 12:30 (BST), so make sure to catch it first before tuning into the Giro. I'll have a full report up on the Cycling Weekly website afterwards.
There's one non-starter at the Giro today.
Robert Gesink (Visma-Lease a Bike) broke his hand in a crash on stage one, and has therefore had to abandon.
🇮🇹 #GirodItalia 😔 Gutted to see you leave. Following his crash yesterday, Robert Gesink sustained a small fracture in his hand. He is forced to abandon the Giro d’Italia. pic.twitter.com/9zG1GMhbpFMay 5, 2024
STAGE TWO BEGINS
161km to go: The flag drops and the riders start their pilgrimage to Oropa.
Today's roll-out took place inside Turin's Velodromo Francone, which, as a track fan, fills me with delight.
160km to go: Immediately, Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) races ahead of the peloton to start the day's breakaway. The Italian, wearing the ciclamino points jersey on behalf of race leader Narváez, takes a handful of riders with him.
155km to go: The peloton comes back together, but the struggle for the breakaway isn't over. This has been an animated start.
152km to go: Five riders go clear, and the peloton looks happy to let them to do so. They are:
Christian Scaroni (Astana-Qazaqstan)
Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost)
Davide Bais (Polti Kometa)
Martin Marcellusi (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè)
Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè)
146km to go: The all-Italian breakaway has an advantage of 2-20 up the road. The mood has settled down, and the riders in the peloton are mingling calmly.
Here's what Geraint Thomas had to say before the stage:
"Obviously we have to take a bit of control being in the leader's jersey. That doesn’t mean we’re necessarily going to bring it back for the stage. We’ll take our responsibility at the start and see how the race pans out."
Asked about UAE Team Emirates' tactics on stage one, the Welshman said: "It's the first day and everyone reacts a bit differently, so maybe they weren’t 100%, like we've seen with a few guys who were a bit off the pace. But they're still strong. I’m under no illusions there."
"There are still 20 days to go and a lot of harder stages to go."
122km to go: The breakaway now have a gap of 3-48. If you haven't already had your lunch, now is probably a good time to pop away from the screen.
114km to go: The average speed so far is 46.5km/h. I struggle to do that going downhill.
This year's Vuelta Femenina came to a close earlier this afternoon. I won't give you any spoilers, just in case you're planning on catching up later, but you can read the full race report, including the winner's words, on our website now.
99.9km to go: We're into the last 100km now. The five-rider breakaway has a lead of 4-29, with UAE Team Emirates pulling in the peloton behind.
The first official climb starts with 44km to go.
90km to go: Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) takes over from Ivo Oliviera (UAE Team Emirates) on the front of the peloton. Ineos and UAE look happy to control this one together – will they go head-to-head for the stage win?
Tadej Pogačar is the favourite for the stage victory today. Here's what he had to say before the roll-out:
"Yesterday, we saw a little bit who is strong and who is not strong. Anyway, it was too short of a climb in the end to see the competitors. Today will be more of a show to see who is better.
Asked when he plans to attack, Pogačar smiled and said: "Maybe I don’t even attack. Let's see. Today is the second stage of the Giro - it's three weeks long. But it's true that the next days are more easy. We can take the opportunities to make one extra effort today, but we will have to decide on the road."
74km to go: It's all calm at the Giro. The breakaway has a 3-24 advantage.
This is a good time to remind ourselves of what is to come this afternoon. Here's the profile of the final climb, the Santuario di Oropa. Don't be fooled by the 6.2% average gradient – as you can see, it ramps up in the second half, with a maximum pitch at 14%.
67km to go: We have a snippet of action at the intermediate sprint. Fiorelli (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè) leads his breakaway companions under the banner to take maximum points.
65km to go: There's a good tustle in the peloton to sweep up the minor sprint points. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) comes in ahead of his fellow sprinters, with Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) on his wheel. A nice leg-stretcher for the fastmen.
63km to go: A crash in the bunch sees Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) end up on the floor. The Irishman is slow to get up. As is Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease Bike), who came down in the same tumble
57km to go: The breakaway is still going strong, but their advantage has slipped to 2-17 as the road has started going uphill. A reminder of who's up the road:
Christian Scaroni (Astana-Qazaqstan)
Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost)
Davide Bais (Polti Kometa)
Martin Marcellusi (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè)
Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè)
Also, apologies, the only picture I can find of them is mostly purple bushes.
54km to go: Fiorelli (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè) wins the Intergiro sprint from the breakaway. What's the Intergiro? I hear you ask. Well, it's basically a race within a race, an opportunity for riders from smaller teams to get on the podium at the end of the day.
My colleague, James Shrubsall, wrote a nice explainer earlier this week.
50km to go: Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost) has gotten sick of his breakaway companions and attacked up the road. The 23-year-old is only 1-07 down on the GC and is the virtual race leader on the road.
44km to go: We're on the first official climb of the day – a third-category lump, 5.5km in length, at an average pitch of 5.6%. Piccolo leads with a 39-second advantage.
43km to go: Attila Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike) is on the ground. He's the second Visma rider to crash today, after Olav Kooij, in what has been a very unfortunate year for his team. Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard are both still sidelined with injuries, remember.
39km to go: A Cofidis rider shoots out of the bunch and up the road. It's Harrison Wood, the young Brit, on his Grand Tour debut.
36km to go: Piccolo is the first onto the descent, carrying a 1-09 advantage. Wood's attack was short-lived, and the Brit has now rejoined the peloton.
33km to go: Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) is on the front of the peloton, winding down a bendy, tree-lined descent at 50km/h. This is pure artistry.
27km to go: I'll be honest, I thought Piccolo's foray would be over by now, but the EF Education-EasyPost rider keeps nudging out his lead. He's 1-35 up the road, and taking some dicey risks on the descents.
26km to go: Piccolo, a former junior European time trial champion, is yet to win a professional race in his career.
He's on the penultimate climb now, another third-category kicker, before he takes on the Santuario di Oropa. He'll be the first on the final climb's slopes.
25km to go: There's a bit of movement behind Piccolo. Christian Scaroni (Astana-Qazaqstan) and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè), the remnants of the early breakaway, and jostling to the top of this climb, perhaps for KOM points.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has tufts aplenty sprouting from his helmet. When will he attack today, if at all? My guess is that he'll go just inside 5km to go.
21km to go: Piccolo (EF Education EasyPost) leads onto the descent, but his advantage is coming down - now at 1-10. Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) is pulling behind.
15km to go: Ineos Grenadiers have their full contingent at the front of the peloton, clawing back the 1-40 gap to Piccolo. Is the British squad trying to set something up?
11km to go: Puncture for Tadej Pogačar! The Slovenian tumbles off his bike as he grinds to a halt. He gets a new bike, but he's chasing to get back on before the foot of the Oropa climb.
10km to go: A sprint at the foot of the climb sees a handful of bonus seconds dealt out. Here's who took them:
Three seconds - Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost)
Two seconds - Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers)
One second - Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers)
8km to go: We're onto the climb, and Pogačar is back in the pack, near the front with his UAE Team Emirates team-mates.
7km to go: Here's what this climb looks like. We're still on the shallower slopes, but it's about to kick up.
6.5km to go: Piccolo is caught. It's gearing up for a GC battle.
6km to go: Nairo Quintana (Movistar) gets dropped from the peloton. The pace is high, as is the gradient, which ticks into the double figures.
5.5km to go: Mikkel Bjerg hands over the baton to Rafal Majka, and Tadej Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates train is in full swing. He looks poised to attack.
4.5km to go: Pogačar attacks!
Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) tries to follow, but there's daylight between the Slovenian and his rivals.
4km to go: The other GC contenders are riding their own tempos, trying not to worry about Pogačar, who is alone out front
Ben O'Connor and Geraint Thomas ride in tandem 13 seconds behind.
2.5km to go: Pogačar's advantage is going up. He's now got a 25-second gap.
Behind, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike) joins O'Connor and Thomas.
1km to go: Under the flamme rouge, Pogačar has a 31-second advantage.
A small group has come together behind, with Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) leading the chase. Ben O'Connor is dropped.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) wins at the summit of the Santuario di Oropa!
The Slovenian takes his first Giro d'Italia stage victory and moves into the pink leader's jersey.
Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) finishes second, 27 seconds down. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) follows closely in third.
You can read the full race report on our website.
