Mathieu van der Poel went deep to beat Giulio Pellizzari and Isaac del Toro on the gravel and in the sprint in San Gimignano, but the two young GC riders, who are rivals but close friends, gained precious seconds on the other GC contenders, setting up another duel in their young careers at Tirreno-Adriatico.
The two 22-year-olds have been battling in stage races for several years and finished first and second at the 2023 Tour de L'Avenir. Now they are super team leaders at Tirreno-Adriatico and joined forces on stage 2 to chase down van der Poel and gain time on the gravel.
Van der Poel won the thrilling sprint, but del Toro pulled on the blue Tirreno-Adriatico leader's jersey, with Pellizzari just three seconds down after an impressive stage 1 time trial.
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"I like gravel, I enjoy doing this, it's more like a game," del Toro said of the gravel racing after pulling on the blue jersey.
"I don't know exactly when I first raced gravel, maybe the first time that I did Strade Bianche, but I feel comfortable doing it, now I feel good."
All del Toro's and Pellizzari's GC rivals lost time but perhaps not hope, with this year's Tirreno-Adriatico likely decided by time bonuses and a few seconds in the absence of a mountain finish.
The top 20 riders in the general classification are divided by less than a minute, with the gravel shake-up adding to the time gap of the stage 1 time trial.
Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) loves to fly under the radar and quietly limited his losses across the two stages to 18 seconds. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) was in the GC group that finished 17 seconds down and is 20 seconds overall, with Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) seventh on GC at 31 seconds.
Ben Healy (EF Education-Easypost) is tenth at 36 seconds, with Magnus Sheffield also finishing in the GC group and so third overall, only 13 seconds down on del Toro.
The American is now Ineos Grenadier's protected rider after Filippo Ganna lost 1:04 and Thymen Arensman crashed on the gravel while up front and lost 1:38.
Jorgenson also crashed on the gravel, while just behind a rampant van der Poel.
The American appeared to move his left hand from the drops to the lever hoods just as a gravel corner tightened. He tried to stay up, but his back wheel slipped out. He got up quickly and chased all out to finish in the GC group at 17 seconds.
"Matteo was where he wanted to be and was one of the few riders who could keep up with Mathieu," Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Jesper Mørkøv pointed out.
"Unfortunately, Matteo lost grip and slid out in the corner. That was a real shame. After that, it was a matter of trying to limit the damage. Matteo is in seventh place in the GC at 31 seconds from Del Toro, so anything is still possible."
Del Toro will start Wednesday's 221km ride south from Cortona in Tuscany to Magliano de' Marsi east of Rome in the leader's blue jersey. It is a day for the sprinters and their teams as much as UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
"I'm quite happy how things went in the final. I was very lucky not to crash on the corner. I'm happy to take the leader's jersey," del Toro said.
"When we were together on the gravel, I knew Mathieu was not doing GC and that Pellizzari was waiting for Primož, so I just needed to finish it off.
"I don't know how the group arrived behind us, but for sure Pellizarri is the guy who's nearest to me now, and the others are super near."
