It was far from a leisurely sprint stage that opened the 2024 Giro d’Italia. After a fierce effort from UAE Team Emirates on the vicious second-category climb that came in the last 30 km of the race to Turin, a punchy finale culminated in a three-up sprint that was won by Jhonatan Narváez of Ineos Grenadiers, who also takes the first pink jersey of the race.
- A solid breakaway got away in the early kilometres of the 140-kilometre opener from Venaria Reale to Torino. The six-rider move was kept on a pretty short leash, only exceeding three minutes after a short duel left Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek) and Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty) alone at the front in the last 50 kilometres.
- UAE Team Emirates were very much in charge all day, looking after the goals of Tadej Pogačar who had made barely veiled threats that he might attack on his very first Giro d’Italia stage. They really began to push the accelerator pedal on the brutal Colle Maddalena just inside the last 30 km, and the team’s blistering pace began to put some of the GC contenders in difficulty, including Thymen Arensman, Romain Bardet and perennial Giro darling Domenico Pozzovivo.
- With their gap falling fast, Calmejane went solo near the top of the climb and held on to take the KOM points. His advantage at the summit was just a handful of seconds, but it yoyoed back out to around 20 seconds on the descent.
- Pogačar dropped back a little – perhaps to assess the damage – as a number of hopeful attacks fired off the front on the fast descent, resulting in a small chase group lodging itself between the lone leader and the reduced bunch: Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) were two of the first off the front, soon joined by Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck), then the quartet of Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Alex Baudin (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco-AlUla) and Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
- Calmejane was joined by the seven chasers 10 km from the finish, and a few kilometres later, Conci sought out a headstart of the short unclassified launchpad to come, as group-two syndrome set in among his companions, despite the efforts of Caruso and Schachmann.
- Conci still had a sizeable gap at the foot of the climb, but when the peloton hit the lower slopes, Pogačar happened.
- The only rider who could react and hang on was Narváez. Sure, it was a relatively short climb and there were obstacles in the way, including crowds and fading attackers, but Pogačar simply couldn’t shake off the Ecuadorian national champion. Max Schachmann also managed to hang around the front, taking advantage of his early move – he was one of the first to ping off the front on the long descent – and though he was dropped in Pogačar last punch near the crest of the climb, the German regained contact on the run-in to the finish.
- With team leader Geraint Thomas in the chase a few seconds behind, Narváez was justified in refusing to help Pogačar’s pace setting in the last few kilometres, but the Slovenian was still determined to stay away with the chance of a debut stage win and pink jersey.
- Alas, Narváez carried the superior sprint, firing off Pogačar’s wheel to take his second Giro stage win ahead of the Slovenian who lost out to Schachmann in a photo finish.
- The reduced bunch crossed the line just 10 seconds after the winner, including GC riders Thomas, Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike), Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Qazaqstan) and Einer Rubio (Movistar).
- Among those floundering after stage 1 are Romain Bardet, Nairo Quintana, Domenico Pozzovivo and Luke Plapp, all of whom finished in a group 57 seconds after the leading trio – and whose stage-hunting shtick is likely to get louder from this point on.
- Further down still was Thymen Arensman – sixth overall at the 2023 Giro – who lost two minutes 17 seconds. The Ineos Grenadiers might have to rethink their two-pronged GC tactics, but at least they’ve got a pink jersey to celebrate.
Stage top 10:
Quotes of the day
“It was a great feeling. We knew it was going to be a stage for me and I worked a lot on it. Following the best guy in the world on the climb was really hard, so it’s a special victory today. It’s still hurting me now. It was really hard, really, really hard but in the end, I made it.”
Narváez said after winning stage 1
Max Schachmann beat Pogačar to second place, and though he missed out on stage victory, the 30-year-old German seemed happy simply to be back competing for victory.
“After the [Colle Maddalena] climb I saw that only Rafał [Majka] was still [there for] Tadej Pogačar. Then I thought, maybe I should just go for it. Maybe they’ll let a small group ride away, but that didn’t happen. Pogačar flew by like a rocket on the climb to San Vito, and I was just happy that I could still join them … I am especially happy that I am back at the front again.”
Schachmann told Eurosport after the finish.
Brief analysis
- How does one analyse something that was as inevitable as a Pogačar attack? Sure, it’s stage 1 of a Grand Tour not a one-day race – no, really – and his first of two at that, but it was not a stretch to expect the Slovenian to go hard early in order to pad his lead and give himself the best possible chance of doing the Giro-Tour double. You could put a question mark over his inability to shift Narváez, but it was a very short climb, too short even to earn a classification by the organisers, and there were people in the way that might have held up the charge. Perhaps you could ask a question of Pogačar’s team, which might have detonated the peloton on the main climb of the day, but it did seem to dwindle a little towards the top and on the descent.
- One thing is for sure, there are several GC contenders and semi-favourites who have not come into the race flying as high as some of their rivals, riders like Ineos Grenadiers co-leader Thymen Arensman and DSM-Firmenich-PostNL’s Romain Bardet, both of whom were expected to hang around in the top 10 until deep into the third week. But it seems they’ve miscalculated their build-up, not to mention what’s going to be required from a Giro led by UAE Team Emirates and Tadej Pogačar. For now at least.
- There’s a chance that Pogačar might be happy with the outcome when he looks back over dinner, or from the massage table. He comes away from stage 1 six seconds off the lead and with 14 seconds in hand over his nearest GC rivals. And he doesn’t have to endure the rigmarole of podiums and press conferences. However, knowing the way this man races, not to mention the extra motivation he had today after the death of a junior rider on the Pogi Team (to whom he paid tribute by wearing a black armband), most would agree that Pogačar was determined to take this first stage and the first pink jersey of his career. There’s always tomorrow.
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