The 107th edition of the Giro d’Italia officially opened this Saturday, in Turin, with a demanding first stage. The main favourites already put in a fight, and Tadej Pogacar started the action, as expected. Yet, the Slovenian was beaten by Jhonatan Narvaez at the finish, while Enzo Paleni finished less than a minute behind the Ecuadorian. Sunday, it will already be time for the first summit finish.
On paper, the opening day promised to be lively on Saturday. On the ground, it was indeed so. From Veneria Reale, in the Turin suburbs, to the city centre of Italian town, the peloton had to tackle nearly 2,000 meters of elevation gain over a first stage of just 140 kilometers. Above all, the last thirty-five kilometers included the double ascent of the Bivio di San Vito (1.5 km at 8.6%), with the last one being just two kilometres away from the finish, but also the Colle della Maddalena (7km at 6.5%), whose summit was located with twenty kilometres to go. “We knew that Pogacar wanted to win right away, and that UAE was going to control,” explained Frédéric Guesdon. “We decided to approach the stage in two steps: in the first part, we had to be careful in case a strong break went, and to see what UAE would do. It was clear early on, with a breakaway of six which was immediately controlled.” Louis Barré, Lilian Calmejane, Nicolas Debeaumarché, Filippo Fiorelli, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier and Andrea Pietrobon did take the lead but their gap rarely exceeded two minutes and a half.
“Enzo Paleni could enjoy himself”, Frédéric Guesdon
After passing the Superga climb halfway through the race, the peloton headed for the first time towards Turin and the Bivio de San Vito, where a selection immediately took place. “In the second part of the race, we hoped that Laurence would have super legs to possibly get over the climbs, but that did not happen,” added Frédéric. The UAE Team Emirates set up a very high tempo, which also reduced the peloton to just thirty riders at the top of Colle della Maddalena, eliminating a few GC contenders in the process. At that point, Enzo Paleni was still holding on. “Enzo was our last card, and he perhaps has the best condition of the group currently because he is coming out of the Tour de Romandie,” added Frédéric. “We gave him his chance, so that he could hang on and progress at the same time. We knew we weren’t going to win but he could enjoy himself by fighting in the closing part of the stage in front.” Everything was eventually decided on the final climb of the Bivio di San Vito, where Tadej Pogacar got rid of almost all of his opponents, with the exception of Jhonatan Narvaez and Maximilian Schachmann. Three kilometers further down, the Ecuadorian actually won the sprint for victory and the first pink jersey.
Enzo Paleni finished 57 seconds behind, in 37th position. On Sunday, the riders will head towards the Sanctuary of Oropa, where Thibaut Pinot obtained fifth place in 2017. “First there are a hundred kilometers, then it’s a little hillier before a final climb of about ten kilometres”, Frédéric concluded. “Some strong guys could enter the breakaway at the start, then it will be a fight between the favourites. It will be hard for us because we don’t have any climbers on the team. We’ll just have to be careful and make the condition grow for Monday. We are looking forward to the beginning of next week.”
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