Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) took a surprising and dominant stage win in the first sprint stage of the Giro d'Italia while behind, GC favorites lost time in a crash just outside the 3 km cutoff.
Alpecin-Deceuninck controlled the bunch into the San Salvo finale for their sprinter Kaden Groves, but once Milan took off there was no stopping the 22-year-old Italian.
Some of the big sprint names, including Mads Pedersen and Mark Cavendish, were caught as well. A large group came in 19 seconds down, which included Ineos GC man Tao Geoghegan Hart. Jay Vine and Jack Haig also lost time.
"I think I keep not believing it, it's something that is incredible, I am without words," Milan said after the finish. "It's my first Giro, second stage. Yesterday I did a nice time trial, I was quite happy with my result, I was pushing good, but I could never imagine that today was coming a victory."
Brief results, Giro d'Italia stage 2:
- Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious)
- David Dekker (Arkea-Samsic)
- Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
- Arne Marit (Intermache-Circus-Wanty)
- Marius Mayrhofer (Team DSM)
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