Giro Stage 2: Kittel Too Easily in Nijmegen

Etixx-Quick Step's Marcel Kittel took all the drama out of the sprint today with a powerful acceleration to the line that saw him sitting up and celebrating victory in the second stage of the Giro d'Italia, more than three bike lengths ahead of his closest competition. Kittel saw his team melt away in the final 300 meters as Arnaud Demare and his FDJ team took over, but Kittel easily shot past on the left side, opening up a huge gap in the final 50 meters. Demare was second with Sacha Modolo of Lampre third.

Omar Fraile, Marten Tjallingii and Giacomo Berlato were the day's break, from the outset, over the pretty and occasionally rolling Dutch (and briefly German) countryside, with Tjallingii scooping up traguardo volante (sprint) points and Fraile the day's lone mountain point. Occasionally huge crowds greeted them along the route But the group were caught shortly after the first crossing of the Rhine River in Nijmegen with 20km to go. The Nippo Fantini rider took off at that point to solo home, or that was the idea anyway, though to no avail. Everybody got something, however, with Berlato the most aggressive prize, Fraile the KOM jersey and Tjallingii the TV leadership.

With his third career Giro stage win, Kittel now sits a second down on the overall classification, behind overnight leader Tom Dumoulin of Gian-Alpecin and Primoz Roglic of LottoNL-Jumbo, and in prime position to arrive in Italy with the maglia rosa on his shoulders, with tomorrow another sprinters' day.

Results:

1. Marcel Kittel, Etixx-Quick Step
2. Arnaud Demare, FDJ, s.t.
3. Sacha Modolo, Lampre, s.t.
4. Moreno Hofland, LottoNL-Jumbo, s.t.
5. Nicola Ruffoni, Bardiani, s.t.
6. Alexander Porsev, Katusha, s.t.
7. Caleb Ewan, Orica-GreenEdge, s.t.
8. Kristian Sbaragli, DImension Data, s.t.
9. Andrey Amador, Movistar, s.t.
10. Giacomo Nizzolo, Trek-Segafredo, s.t.

GC:

1. Tom Dumoulin, Giant-Alpecin
2. Primoz Roglic, LottoNL-Jumbo, s.t.
3. Kittel, at 0.01