MAGNIER AVOIDS BIG CRASH TO TAKE PINK AFTER STAGE 1 VICTORY
French debutant Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) opened up his Grand Tour account in style with victory in the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia in the Bulgarian city of Burgas.
The 22-year-old was one of only a dozen or so riders who avoided a huge crash in the final kilometre of the opening stage. Magnier held off Denmark’s Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Britain’s Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling Team) as the big favourite Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) settled for fourth place in the 147km from Nessebar on the Black Sea coast.
Magnier’s Soudal Quick-Step team showed intent in their first Grand Tour appearance following the departure of star rider Remco Evenepoel – delivering their man to the front of a nervy peloton before a massive pile-up dashed the chances of most of the field.
An apparent touch of wheels between Norway’s Tord Gudmestad (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Denmark’s Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) occurred on a narrow pinchpoint with 650 metres remaining, causing carnage behind and sending riders cascading into the barriers and over their handlebars.
Australia’s Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Dutch powerhouse Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) both went down heavily and were reportedly taken to hospital for tests following the stage.
Pre-race favourite Jonas Vingegaard opted out of the sprint and instead crossed the line safely alongside his Visma-Lease a Bike team-mates and well out of trouble. A wise decision.
Italy’s Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber) and Spain’s Diego Sevilla (Team Polti VisitMalta) attacked from the start to open a maximum gap of just over two minutes on the peloton. Tarozzi won both intermediate sprints and Sevilla secured the blue king of the mountains jersey after cresting the Cat.4 Cape Agalina climb twice in pole position.
Magnier will don the fabled pink jersey in Saturday’s second stage of the iconic race, a lumpy 221km ride from Burgas to Veliko Tarnovo.
‘The Frenchman has it!’ – French prodigy Magnier lands first Grand Tour win
Video credit: TNT Sports