Eight minutes clear with 40 km to go, two seconds at the finish: unseen thriller at Giro Next Gen

The opening stage of the Giro NextGen was won on Sunday by Kasper Haugland of Decathlon CMA CGM’s development team. The Norwegian completed a 56-kilometer solo and, with it, earned the right to pull on the first pink jersey in the “Giro d’Italia of the future.” But he had to dig incredibly deep to get there.

For many U23 riders, the Giro Next Gen is the race of the year, and that was clear from the start list. Every major team with a development squad sent some of its brightest prospects. Think of riders such as Matisse Van Kerckhove of Visma | Lease a Bike, Lorenzo Finn of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Matteo Ramirez of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Henrique Bravo of Soudal Quick-Step, and many more.

On day one, those young riders were served up a 168-kilometer stage, with two climbs packed into the latter part of the route. Plenty of riders were keen to make it into the early breakaway, although on an opening day like this, the term “early break” almost came with an asterisk.

With 124 kilometers still to race, Haugland went clear together with Hakon Eiksund Oksnes of Drali-Repsol and Luca Fraticelli. The peloton quickly gave the move its blessing. For the Norwegian, however, the pace was apparently still not hard enough. With 56 kilometers to go, he launched a solo attack.

Haugland, who finished eighth in the U23 edition of Paris-Roubaix earlier this year, quickly built a lead of one minute. Behind him, the peloton was already eight minutes down, and that began to create some nervousness. Several teams decided it was time to organize a chase after all, even though Haugland is not known as a climber. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe managed to persuade Tudor and Hagens Berman Jayco, among others, to help limit the damage.

Then Haugland visibly began to suffer. He lost ground rapidly — very rapidly. From the eight-minute advantage he held at around 40 kilometers from the finish, only a minute and a half remained with five kilometers to go. The Norwegian was helped slightly by the gently descending roads, but he was completely empty.

With three kilometers remaining, his lead had fallen to just 50 seconds. Was he really going to lose it after all? Only just. Haugland held on by barely two seconds.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]