From superb Stuyven to struggling Picnic PostNL: here are the winners and losers of Giro week two

We have now reached the final rest day of this Giro d’Italia, so it is once again time to take stock. Who impressed in the second week, and who is hoping the Giro is over as quickly as possible? In de Leiderstrui runs through the winners and losers.

Jasper Stuyven is having an excellent Giro. As Paul Magnier’s lead-out man, he has already guided the French sprinter to victory twice, but in the second week the Belgian was also often allowed to go for his own chances. And he took those chances with both hands, as his attacking intent in the transition stages showed.

He was in the right breakaway in stage 11, but the finale was just too hard. A day later he was able to sprint for his own result in Novi Ligure after Magnier was dropped on the decisive climb. His compatriot Alec Segaert won the stage with a late attack, but Stuyven still sprinted to a fine fifth place.

And that was not the end of it for the Soudal Quick-Step rider. One day later, the strong Belgian was once again in the break and even ended up on the podium in the stage result, behind Alberto Bettiol and Andreas Leknessund.

Although Movistar has been racing in an attractive and entertaining way in this Giro, the results have not been much to write home about. They had the in-form Lorenzo Milesi as one of the outsiders for the time trial, but he forgot to take off his cooling vest, which cost him a fair bit of time.

A day later Enric Mas was in the breakaway after abandoning his GC ambitions. The Spaniard, however, left his tactics in the team bus and decided to help pull at the front with the faster Narváez on his wheel. One day later, Movistar’s aggressive racing approach also failed to pay off.

The Spanish squad pushed hard on the climbs to bring the climbing Orluis Aular to the finish in a good position, but had too few helpers left to close the gap to the attacking Segaert. A sixth place was all the Venezuelan sprinter could manage.

The duo of Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari may well have been the most dangerous tandem in this Giro on paper. But the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe leaders were hit by illness. Even so, they fought through it impressively.

Hindley started the second week looking distinctly under the weather, while his Italian co-leader complained about his health every day. Despite their physical problems, the two teammates are still in a very strong position overall and both remain in contention for the podium, sitting just 40 seconds and 1:10, respectively, behind podium rival Thymen Arensman.

The illness now seems to be easing for the Red Bull duo, so who knows what they may still be capable of in the punishing third week.

This is still not the Giro Picnic PostNL Raisin was hoping for. Sprinter Casper van Uden has never really been able to contest the sprints, while getting into the early break has also been anything but straightforward.

On the eleventh stage won by Jonathan Narváez, Warren Barguil was at least in the move, but the Frenchman failed to make his mark in the finale and had to settle for ninth. The same went for stage 13, which ended in a breakaway victory: Picnic PostNL Raisin missed the move twice and then tried to close the gap with Gijs Leemreize on his own. It came to nothing, and so the Dutch team missed another chance at a good placing.

By contrast, Bahrain Victorious are riding an absolute dream Giro. The team suffered an early setback when leader Santiago Buitrago abandoned, but has responded superbly through perhaps the revelation of this Giro, Afonso Eulalio.

The Portuguese rider suddenly found himself in the pink jersey in the first week, and against all expectations he was able to defend it in the time trial. The pink dream therefore went on, but that was not the end of the success for the Bahrain outfit.

Stage 12 looked set to end in a reduced bunch sprint, but Alec Segaert had other ideas. The Belgian launched a late attack and held off the charging peloton in magnificent style. Segaert’s win is the crowning moment of Bahrain Victorious’ already glorious Giro. And then there is the fact that Eulalio is still second overall. Where will this end?

Luck is still not on Ben Turner’s side in this Giro. The tall Briton from Netcompany INEOS is actually riding very strongly, but keeps running into misfortune at key moments.

In the first week he already had to wait for team leader Egan Bernal, which meant he was no longer fresh for his finishing kick. The fast Brit was out for revenge on stage 12 and seemed to make it over the climb with ease. But a puncture threw a spanner in the works.

Turner was therefore unable to return to the front group and again failed to record a top result. When you see how strongly he is riding, you would think luck has to swing his way in the third week at some point — but which stage still suits a rider like Turner?