Clean sweep for BORA - hansgrohe in the first stage of the Giro d´Italia
For the first time in history of the Grand Tours a team leads all the classifications
Cesare Benedetti was in the break of the day and took the Maglia Azzura for the best climber. An unbelievable Lukas Pösltberger historical took the stage victory and also the Maglia Rosa, the Maglia Bianca and the Maglia Ciclamino. The team leads also the team classification.
Today the 100th edition of the Giro d´Italia started in Alghero on Sardinia, the race took the peloton through the beautiful cost in the north of the island. The first stage covered more than 200 kilometers with 3 KOM´s (4 Cat.) and 2 intermediate sprint, therefore the stage favored the sprinters in the peloton and looked like that the fans will see a bunch sprint.
Directly after the start, a group of 6 riders formed the breakaway of the day. Cesare Benedetti represented BORA - hansgrohe in the day´s break group, which already had an advantage of 7 minutes after 40 kilometers of racing. In the peloton the sprinter teams, especially Quick-Step Floors, Lotto-Soudal and Orica-Scott controlled the pace as expected.
Cesare took the first two KOM’s of the day after a hard fight between the breakaway companions, which put him in a comfortable position in the fight for the blue jersey. Because the group was caught before the last climb of the day, with 3km to go, Cesare Benedetti is the first leader in the KOM in this year’s Giro d’Italia.
The final 5 kilometers took the peloton from big to smaller roads, with lots of changes in direction, technical corners and tailwind, a very fast finish was expected.
The thrilling finale started when Lukas Pöstlberger took control over the peloton and set up the pace. He went for his first Grand Tour victory in his young career and took in an exciting sprint the victory ahead of Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal). Due to his victory, he also took the Maglia Rosa, the jersey for the best sprinter and also the jersey for the best youngest rider. Tehrefore BORA – hansgrohe leads next to the team classification also in every classification at the Giro d´Italia, a novelty at the Grand Tours.
“When we entered Olbia we lost each other a little and the race started to become disorganized. Some guys attacked and I jumped to close for Sam. But behind me there was a gap then and I heard in the radio “you have a gap, go”. Somehow everything felt pretty easy then, like a flow. At 700m I was wondering why nobody overtook me. In the end, nobody came till the end and I won. I have no words for all this. It will take some hours or a glass of wine to realize was happened today.” – Lukas Pöstlberger
“It was clear that there will be a group right from the beginning. After we have no Leo here, our plan was to fight for everything we can get. I was told to try and go for the KOM’s today. When I was in the group I concentrated on those mountain sprints It is great to have a leader’s jersey here in the 100th Giro, I am so happy, but it was unbelievable to be on the podium out there with Lukas. What a day for us.” – Cesare Benedetti
2017 Giro d'Italia Stage 1 Top Ten Results
1 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 5:13:35
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott
3 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
4 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
5 Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
6 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data
7 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
8 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
9 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
10 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb
2017 Giro d'Italia Overall after Stage 1 Top Ten
1 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 5:13:25
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:00:04
3 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:00:06
4 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:00:09
5 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:10
6 Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
7 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data
8 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
9 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
10 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe