OFFICIAL Stage 2 Results: Soler, Buitrago, Vine ABANDON!
Laurens De Jong
Hello, Giro d’Italia Gamers!
STAGE Grade: A-
I rate today’s stage an A-. Mixed feelings about the route. The final climb was well-placed, but the dirty roads may have contributed to the crash. And besides that final climb, the route was uninspiring. Two stars! Thanks to the mega crash, everything else rates high as well. General classification, surprises. It was all there, although not really in a good way.
Route: 2/5 GC: 4/5 Tactics: 2/5 Sprint: 4/5 Surprises: 5/5
That was one of the worst crashes I have seen in a bike race. It happened so unexpectedly. One moment I was just watching the peloton as it rounded a slight bend. Then all of a sudden there was a war zone, with riders literally piled up everywhere. The number of riders and bikes everywhere, joined by mechanics, officials, and medics, I don’t have words for it. It was bad, it was really really bad.
How bad? The reason the race was neutralized soon after was because there were more injured riders than ambulances. And by rule, there must be an ambulance following the peloton. That’s a grim reason to stop the race.
I thought they would abandon the stage altogether, but they must have found more ambulances somewhere. Just before the Red Bull KM, the race resumed. I noticed two things.
One, Netcompany INEOS was riding very, very hard. Filippo Ganna doing his best time trial work, I saw Ben Turner there, I saw Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal in a strategic fifth or so position. Message received: INEOS thinks they can win the 2026 Giro d’Italia. They may not be wrong. Arensman hung in there when Jonas Vingegaard et al. broke the peloton, and Bernal was never far back.
Two, Vingegaard attacked. He doesn’t always do it, but he went all-in on the climb to the Lyaskovets Monastery. Only Giulio Pellizzari went with him and, surprisingly, Lennert van Eetvelt. We shouldn’t read too much into that, this isn’t the high mountains. But van Eetvelt in Vingegaard’s wheel? Impressive.
I really did think that those three would gap the field. I didn’t see them do anything wrong, they weren’t sitting up and looking at each other. But somehow, the entire field came back together and this turned into an improbable bunch sprint.
Tip of the hat to Guillermo Silva. I, like most of you, had no idea who he was. It’s his first grand tour stage win, the first ever for a rider from Uruguay in fact. There was nothing fancy about that sprint, he just had the legs to get to the line first.
For a while it was a sprint between him and Christian Scaroni. A rider we know much better, and from a nation with many more grand tour wins. But for Scaroni’s trouble, all he got was a yellow card and a fine. He sat up and celebrated Silva’s win before he crossed the finish line. If riders are sprinting behind you, that’s considered endangering others. Not entirely unreasonable, but I understand Scaroni’s actions.
The two-person breakaway consisted of just Polti-VisitMalta today. Maglia Azzurra Diego Pablo Sevilla was joined by Mirco Maestri. We’ve seen Maestri many times before in our game. He’d love to win the fuga competition. That’s why he was in the breakaway today. Of course, Sevilla is winning that competition right now, so going with him didn’t change much.
But okay. The big surprise was that nobody else was interested in going with them. The Red Bull KM sprint was at the bottom of the final climb. I thought Manuele Tarozzi would join the breakaway and secure more points there. But perhaps he is smarter than me. The peloton would catch the breakaway before the sprint. Did Tarozzi and his team recognize that, and decided to keep their legs fresh? That’s some next-level strategic thinking of that’s true. I’d like to believe it, I just can’t prove it.
The KOM points and the traguardo volante earned our team another 2,000 euros. Yesterday, I overlooked that Giovanni Lonardi earned 826 euros for sixth place in the stage. That’s an oddly specific amount of money. For some reason, the stage payouts are in Swiss francs, and 826 euros is about 750 Swiss francs. First place is 10,000 Swiss francs, or 11,010 euros.
My point is: Polti-VisitMalta are in third place now in teams earnings. They are behind the two teams who have won a stage. Because winning a stage earns you 11,010 euros, like I said.
Watch the final kilometers HERE.
Watch the five-minute highlights HERE.
Read the TNT Sports report HERE.
Marc Soler’s abandon hurts Team Sam and Santiago Buitrago’s abandon hurts Team Ansel. Jay Vine hurts everyone except Team Ansel and Team Felix. At one point Aleksandr Vlasov was listed as DNF, but now he’s not. I do expect more riders not to start on Sunday, though, so we’ll have more abandons to talk about after stage 3.
A big, big win for Team Grace in today’s stage. Points from Giulio Ciccone and Christian Scaroni gave them an overwhelming victory, and they move into second place now.
Team Ansel and Team Sam shared second place — they remain were they were in first and fifth, respectively.
Team hugo clinched fourth, improving one spot to sixth. Team Felix were right behind them in fifth, but they remain eighth. Team Tadej scored sixth today and they are now tied for third.
Team Charles and Team Amalia missed the boat today. They’re now seventh and tied for third, respectively.
Stage 3 also isn’t quite a sprint stage. The category 2 climb to Borovec will hurt the sprinters. The question is: does anyone want to organize a breakaway? Will someone think a general classification battle is appropriate? I don’t like either of those choices.
I would think this race suits Kaden Groves. He climbs more easily than the other sprinters. But the computer heavily favors Jonathan Milan, but if that’s true, then I think Paul Magnier can beat him again. Please write down the winner of stage 3: Paul Magnier.
Stage 2 finished in Veliko Tarnovo. Stage 3 will start in Plovdiv. According to what I read, those are the two most picturesque cities in Bulgaria. I thought you should know.
Standings after stage 2:
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Sam* |
261 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Grace* |
244 |
4 |
2 |
|
3 |
Team Amalia* |
209 |
2 |
-1 |
|
Team Tadej* |
209 |
3 |
0 |
|
|
5 |
Team Ansel* |
200 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Hugo* |
140 |
7 |
1 |
|
7 |
Team Charles* |
123 |
6 |
-1 |
|
8 |
Team Felix* |
114 |
8 |
0 |
Standings after stage 2 (including adults):
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Craig |
286 |
2 |
1 |
|
2 |
Team Sam* |
261 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Laurens |
245 |
5 |
2 |
|
4 |
Team Grace* |
244 |
10 |
6 |
|
5 |
Team Julie |
242 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Zach |
237 |
1 |
-5 |
|
7 |
Team Amelia |
230 |
15 |
8 |
|
8 |
Team Doug |
221 |
11 |
3 |
|
9 |
Team Paul |
217 |
12 |
3 |
|
10 |
Team Amalia* |
209 |
4 |
-6 |
|
Team Tadej* |
209 |
8 |
-2 |
|
|
12 |
Team Corsa |
202 |
7 |
-5 |
|
13 |
Team Ansel* |
200 |
12 |
-1 |
|
14 |
Team Kent |
188 |
14 |
0 |
|
15 |
Team Jake |
172 |
17 |
2 |
|
16 |
Team Adam |
150 |
18 |
2 |
|
17 |
Team Hugo* |
140 |
20 |
3 |
|
18 |
Team Roslyn |
128 |
9 |
-9 |
|
19 |
Team Charles* |
123 |
16 |
-3 |
|
20 |
Team Kate |
122 |
19 |
-1 |
|
21 |
Team Rob |
116 |
20 |
-1 |
|
22 |
Team Felix* |
114 |
23 |
1 |
|
23 |
Team Kari |
69 |
24 |
1 |
|
24 |
Team Jonwaine |
47 |
22 |
-2 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 2:
|
Name |
STAGE RESULTS |
RED JERSEY |
GREEN JERSEY |
POLKA DOT JERSEY |
WHITE JERSEY |
POINTS/CLASS |
TOTAL |
PREVIOUS |
CUM. TOTAL |
|
Team Amalia* |
39 |
15 |
12 |
6 |
0 |
33 |
72 |
137 |
209 |
|
Team Ansel* |
80 |
21 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
35 |
115 |
85 |
200 |
|
Team Charles* |
50 |
15 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
24 |
74 |
49 |
123 |
|
Team Felix* |
91 |
8 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
14 |
105 |
9 |
114 |
|
Team Grace* |
116 |
21 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
35 |
151 |
93 |
244 |
|
Team Hugo* |
80 |
21 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
30 |
110 |
30 |
140 |
|
Team Sam* |
76 |
21 |
12 |
6 |
0 |
39 |
115 |
146 |
261 |
|
Team Tadej* |
82 |
0 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
14 |
96 |
113 |
209 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 2 (including adults):
|
Team Adam |
85 |
21 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
30 |
115 |
35 |
150 |
|
Team Amalia* |
39 |
15 |
12 |
6 |
0 |
33 |
72 |
137 |
209 |
|
Team Amelia |
107 |
28 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
46 |
153 |
77 |
230 |
|
Team Ansel* |
80 |
21 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
35 |
115 |
85 |
200 |
|
Team Charles* |
50 |
15 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
24 |
74 |
49 |
123 |
|
Team Corsa |
54 |
21 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
33 |
87 |
115 |
202 |
|
Team Craig |
101 |
21 |
12 |
6 |
0 |
39 |
140 |
146 |
286 |
|
Team Doug |
96 |
21 |
7 |
6 |
0 |
34 |
130 |
91 |
221 |
|
Team Felix* |
91 |
8 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
14 |
105 |
9 |
114 |
|
Team Grace* |
116 |
21 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
35 |
151 |
93 |
244 |
|
Team Hugo* |
80 |
21 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
30 |
110 |
30 |
140 |
|
Team Jake |
100 |
19 |
3 |
6 |
4 |
32 |
132 |
40 |
172 |
|
Team Jonwaine |
21 |
8 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
12 |
33 |
14 |
47 |
|
Team Julie |
68 |
20 |
12 |
6 |
4 |
42 |
110 |
132 |
242 |
|
Team Kari |
51 |
14 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
18 |
69 |
0 |
69 |
|
Team Kate |
61 |
21 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
27 |
88 |
34 |
122 |
|
Team Kent |
78 |
15 |
7 |
6 |
0 |
28 |
106 |
82 |
188 |
|
Team Laurens |
71 |
20 |
12 |
6 |
4 |
42 |
113 |
132 |
245 |
|
Team Paul |
97 |
21 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
35 |
132 |
85 |
217 |
|
Team Rob |
58 |
21 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
28 |
86 |
30 |
116 |
|
Team Roslyn |
19 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
7 |
26 |
102 |
128 |
|
Team Sam* |
76 |
21 |
12 |
6 |
0 |
39 |
115 |
146 |
261 |
|
Team Tadej* |
82 |
0 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
14 |
96 |
113 |
209 |
|
Team Zach |
54 |
14 |
12 |
6 |
0 |
32 |
86 |
151 |
237 |
-Laurens.