2016 Giro d’Italia Stage 2: Kittel takes the flowers

Though he’s never won in the country of Italy itself, Marcel Kittel (Germany/Etixx-QuickStep) took his third Giro d’Italia victory Saturday in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) retained the pink jersey.

Winner of Stage 2 singing in this morning @marcelkittel @giroditalia pic.twitter.com/wnQnk7x564

— Canadian Cycling Mag (@CanadianCycling) May 7, 2016

The course was a very flat one, with a Cat. 4 ripple near the end that wouldn’t worry many of the sprinters. It was a sunny, lovely day in the Netherlands.

Quickly, the first breakaway of the 99th Giro established itself. Omar Fraile (Spain/Dimension Data), Giacomo Berlato (Italy/Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Maarten Tjallingii (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo) jumped away and rolled up a 10:00 lead by the 85-km mark.

Giant-Alpecin led the peloton, with Etixx and FDJ pitching in. By the time the trio hit the first intermediate sprint with 55-km to go, its lead was down to 3:45. Tjallingii rolled through first. Twelve-kilometres later, Sky and Movistar having taken their turn at the front of the field, Tjallingii again took the maximum intermediate sprint points and three bonus seconds.

The course then veered into Germany for a brief visit and then headed to the first categorized climb of the Giro. Fraile, the KOM of last year’s Vuelta a España, was first over the crest and pulled on the blue climber’s jersey at the end of the stage.

Thirty-four kilometres remained and the escapees had 2:45 over the field. Discord and Tjallingii’s crowd-waving marked their final kilometres in front as they rolled towards first of two 8.6-km circuits in Nijmegen. Berlato was the final escapee to surrender, not quite making the final lap bell in front.

The riders stayed bunched heading into the final 4-km. Slicing and dicing increased under the 3-km banner, with Etixx taking over from Lotto-Soudal. Inside the red kite FDJ led out, but Etixx put Kittel in the best position to grab Arnaud Démare’s wheel and launch his strike, winning by a large margin.

Kittel took two victories in the 2014 Giro, but in Northern Ireland and Ireland.

All three Canadians, Ryder Hesjedal, Hugo Houle and Svein Tuft, finished in the pack, Hesjedal leading the way in 99th.

Sunday’s stage is a carbon copy of Saturday, but Nijmegen to Arnhem, instead of Arnhem to Nijmegen, using a different route.

2016 Giro d’Italia Stage 2
1) Marcel Kittel (Germany/Etixx-QuickStep) 4:38:31
2) Arnaud Démare (France/FDJ) s.t.
3) Sacha Modolo (Italy/Lampre) s.t.
99) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Trek-Segafredo) s.t.
116) Hugo Houle (Canada/AG2R) s.t.
173) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.

2016 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin)
2) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/LottoNL-Jumbo) s.t.
3) Marcel Kittel (Germany/Etixx-QuickStep) +0:01
24) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +0:26
40) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Trek-Segafredo) +0:33
100) Hugo Houle (Canada/AG2R) +0:50