Van der Poel wins chaotic Tirreno-Adriatico gravel stage; Arensman crashes heavily

Monday belonged to Filippo Ganna, who powered to victory in the opening individual time trial and took the first leader’s jersey, with Arensman impressively second. On day two, there was no time to relax: the peloton faced a tricky stage featuring a decisive gravel sector in the closing kilometres on the run-in to San Gimignano.

On the flat roads early on, four riders managed to break clear of the peloton: Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), Joan Bou (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA), Alessandro Iacchi (Solution Tech–NIPPO–Rali) and Diego Sevilla (Polti VisitMalta) built a solid advantage.

The race then settled into a steady rhythm: the bunch was happy to allow the break some space, and the course wasn’t truly demanding yet. That changed after roughly 120 kilometres, when the riders hit the hills and the leaders’ advantage began to shrink. In the peloton, Alpecin–Premier Tech, Visma | Lease a Bike and INEOS Grenadiers took control.

With 56 kilometres to go, the first notable name was dropped: Arnaud De Lie (Lotto–Intermarché). The Belgian had said beforehand that he wanted to hang on for as long as possible, but the pace on the long run-in to San Gimignano proved too much.

Around 40 kilometres from the finish, the four escapees were reeled in. At the same time, the general classification teams began to move up en masse as nerves increased. Strongmen like Oliver Naesen (Decathlon–CMA CGM) and Connor Swift (INEOS Grenadiers) fought for the key positions at the front.

Inside the final 10 kilometres it became a full-on fight for position, as the riders approached a crucial descent. That downhill section led directly into the start of the all-important gravel sector, which opened with a tight hairpin and immediately kicked up steeply at low speed. Rain starting to fall only added to the tension.

Leader Ganna took the downhill corners cautiously from the front, with Van der Poel and the other favourites on his wheel. In the lead-out towards the gravel, Wout van Aert lost contact with his teammates somewhat, while Ouwain Doull and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) moved to the front.

Once on the gravel, Julian Alaphilippe immediately pushed on with Van der Poel. Pellizzari then took over the tempo, but the Dutchman responded. A crash involving Jorgenson on the climb left Van der Poel solo at the front, with Pellizzari and Del Toro chasing. Behind them, a sizeable gap opened.

The two chasers eventually made it back to Van der Poel. The Dutchman had a moment of his own too — a small slide that forced him to close a gap to Del Toro. In the background, Arensman hit the ground hard, and with that, his GC ambitions for this stage race took a major blow.

At the front, the trio worked well together into San Gimignano, where the road began to rise again. Del Toro took long turns to maximise the gap back to the GC men behind, while Pellizzari sat in more conservatively on Van der Poel’s wheel.

The Italian launched first with 200 metres to go, but Van der Poel came past with a long, powerful sprint. Del Toro and Pellizzari closed again late on, yet it was the Dutchman who held on by a narrow margin.