Simon Yates crushes Giro time trial, van der Poel keeps pink jersey

Simon Yates showed why he’s a serious candidate to win the Giro d’Italia by winning a short but tricky time trial in Budapest, the second of three days in Hungary. Three seconds slower, Mathieu van der Poel retained the pink jersey he pulled on after Friday’s opening stage victory. Lone Canadian entrant Alex Cataford was 152nd. This year’s Giro has just 26 km of time trials, the fewest since 1962 when the route didn’t have a TT stage.

? @mathieuvdpoel keeps the Maglia Rosa!

? @mathieuvdpoel tiene la Maglia Rosa!#Giro @AlpecinFenix pic.twitter.com/6nCI6tYBm2

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 7, 2022

The Course

There were many corners in the first 8 km of the 9.2-km route, as the course crossed the Danube on the way to the cobbled climb to the finish. The Cat. 4 ascent to the line was 1.3 km of 4.9 percent, with the intermediate time taken at its foot.

#Giro ??

The first rider is down the ramp in Budapest, @JensenJuul is our first rider away in 15 minutes ⏰

Here’s a look at the 9.2km TT course ⏱ pic.twitter.com/iJvNFPji21

— Team BikeExchange-Jayco (@GreenEDGEteam) May 7, 2022

Harm Vanhoucke was the first to test the waters, and he finished with a time of 12:48. Alex Dowsett eclipsed Vanhoucke with 12:23 before the latter could find the hot seat.

Dowsett was comfortable until Jos van Emden cracked his best intermediate time and then posted 12:19. Van Emden promptly lost the fast mark to teammate Edoardo Affini after Jumbo-Visma’s Italian stopped the clock at 12:10. Affini’s best intermediate time fell to Lennard Kämna before the German assumed the race lead with 12:07.

Kämna held the lead as the final 50 riders began. But Italian chrono champion Matteo Sobrero clipped his time with 12:03.

#Giro ??@MatteoSobrero goes FASTEST! ?

12'03" for the Italian champion ? pic.twitter.com/YUQVOrsSrb

— Team BikeExchange-Jayco (@GreenEDGEteam) May 7, 2022

Tom Dumoulin cracked Kämna’s best intermediate time and then hauled himself up the cobbled climb. He was the first fellow to break the 12:00 mark. Immediately, Simon Yates took the lead with 11:50.

Van der Poel hit the climb with the third fastest intermediate time but he just couldn’t reach the high-flying Yates.

Sunday is when the pure sprinters will finally have their day on a 201 km route from Kaposvár to Balatonfüred.

2022 Giro d’Italia Stage 2
1) Simon Yates (Great Britain/BikeExchange-Jayco) 11:50
2) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Fenix) +0:03
3) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) +0:05
152) Alex Cataford (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +1:17

2022 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Fenix) 4:47:11
2) Simon Yates (Great Britain/BikeExchange-Jayco) +0:11
3) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) +0:16
72) Alex Cataford (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +2:06