They say the Giro d’Italia breeds chaos like no other Grand Tour. News of two positive doping tests on Thursday ensured the continuation of that theme in the race’s 100th edition and, despite a relatively calm start to Friday’s opening stage, there was more to come as Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) upset the sprinters to pull on the first maglia rosa of the race.
The Austrian, making his Grand Tour debut, was meant to be working for sprinter Sam Bennett or, failing the Irishman, for Matteo Pelucchi. In any case, the 206km leg from Alghero to Olbia, flat save for a trio of fourth-category climbs, was meant to end in a bunch kick and the pink the jersey on the shoulders of one of the peloton’s fastmen.
But when Pöstlberger took up the reins with a couple of kilometres remaining, shortly after a crash had disrupted the bunch, a gap appeared between himself and Caleb Ewan’s Orica-Scott lead-out man. And it only got bigger, as Bennett urged his lead-out man to crack on over race radio. More splits emerged in the technical city streets and Pöstlberger did just that, carrying a healthy lead into the final few hundred metres – enough to sit up and celebrate in the final 100 metres.
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As he did so, the riders who everyone had been talking about enacted a somewhat futile sprint for second place, Ewan getting there ahead of Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) – all no doubt bitterly disappointed.
“We wanted to try for a sprint for the final for Sam. Through the city the lead-out trains, I don’t know, they lost my wheel or something and I had a gap,” explained Pöstlberger.
“I heard over the radio, ‘C’mon, Posty, go try!' and I put all I had in. It worked out – victory for the team, first professional victory for me, maglia rosa. I think I will need many weeks to take this victory in. It’s unbelievable, really.”
Highlights
How it unfolded
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