Silva takes surprise win as Vingegaard throws away stage 2 in chaos-hit Giro stage

Stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia has been won by Guillermo Thomas Silva. The Uruguayan from XDS Astana looked beaten, only to come back with a large group and rejoin Jonas Vingegaard, Giulio Pellizzari and Lennert Van Eetvelt. He won the sprint, ahead of Florian Stork (Tudor) and Giulio Ciccone. The story of the day, however, was once again a horror crash.

Everyone had been waiting a while for the first proper sprint opportunity at this year's Giro d'Italia. With Dylan Groenewegen among the hopefuls, the finale was watched with bated breath — but things still went wrong. A heavy crash marred the closing kilometre, though Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) stayed upright and claimed the first pink jersey. But how long could he hold onto it?

Stage 2 was always going to be a stiff test. From Burgas to Veliko Tarnovo, the riders had 221 kilometres to cover, with 2,400 metres of climbing. The finale is particularly tricky, featuring a nasty little sting in the tail right before the line. Whether the young Frenchman could keep his pink jersey was far from certain — and who was going to unseat him?

It wouldn't be an early breakaway. Polti VisitMalta opened the day's account with a two-pronged move: mountains jersey holder Diego Pablo Sevilla went on the adventure alongside teammate Mirco Maestri. No one else fancied joining them, and the pair quickly built up a sizeable lead over a peloton that had started the stage at a genuinely walking pace.

The tempo was very low, with teams like NSN Cycling and Visma | Lease a Bike keeping things under easy control. Pink jersey holder Magnier picked up an intermediate sprint along the way, while the breakaway pair began to tackle the opening climbs. Sevilla picked up some mountains points. Meanwhile the rain had arrived, sending riders en masse to their team cars for rain jackets.

On the climbs, the sprinters started to struggle — particularly those already carrying the damage from stage 1, such as Dylan Groenewegen and Kaden Groves. Arnaud De Lie was also in trouble. The Belgian hadn't been involved in the crash but was clearly under the weather, and it showed immediately when the road went uphill. He and the other fast men were eventually able to return, but only briefly.

As the race wore on, the weather worsened. It began to pour properly, doing nothing to lift spirits in the peloton. The race crept towards the finale without too many complications — but when the final forty kilometres arrived, it was clear things were about to get serious. The pace went up and more teams moved forward.

It had been such a quiet stage — until 22 kilometres from the finish. At the front of the peloton, someone went down on the slick roads and triggered a terrible domino effect. Around thirty riders hit the ground. Almost the entire UAE squad was involved, with Adam Yates and Jay Vine both badly hurt. Vine left the race on a stretcher.

Derek Gee-West, António Morgado, Wilco Kelderman and Santiago Buitrago were also caught up in the crash. A brief neutralisation followed, but racing was quickly back underway. Egan Bernal pocketed a few bonus seconds, and then the final climb could begin. Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) immediately launched an acceleration, but was reeled in.

Visma | Lease a Bike then took command. The pace was ferocious, driven by Davide Piganzoli. He put Vingegaard in position, and the tempo was enough to drop pink jersey holder Magnier — he wasn't the only sprinter to go, either. Lukas Kubis (Unibet Rose Rockets) also had to let go as the Killer Bees drove the pace. The group was pared down to around thirty riders.

Then came the real attack. Vingegaard went and Jan Christen and Giulio Pellizzari were straight on his wheel. Over the top, the Dane accelerated again and Christen cracked. Pellizzari went with it, as did Lennert Van Eetvelt. Three riders crested together with a small lead over a chase group — which swelled considerably on the descent, making the pursuit more formidable.

The trio worked well together heading towards the finish in Veliko Tarnovo, and the lead grew to around twenty seconds. But the road would rise unpleasantly once more before the line — so it was far from over. Vingegaard and his companions couldn't afford to start looking at each other. And they didn't, at first: it was largely the Danish favourite doing the work.

In the final kilometre, though, they did begin to hesitate. Van Eetvelt stopped contributing, and Vingegaard started playing games too. The chase group came storming back — they were nearly caught! Christen rejoined, at which point Van Eetvelt attacked. But in the final 500 metres the whole lot came back together, and it was down to a sprint. Guillermo Thomas Silva launched it — and just held off Florian Stork (Tudor) at the line.