Giro d'Italia: Postlberger upsets the sprinters, takes first maglia rosa

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They say the Giro d'Italia breeds chaos like no other Grand Tour. News of two positive doping tests on Thursday ensured the continuation of that theme in the race's 100th edition and, despite a relatively calm start to Friday’s opening stage, there was more to come as Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) upset the sprinters to pull on the first maglia rosa of the race.

The Austrian, making his Grand Tour debut, was meant to be working for sprinter Sam Bennett or, failing the Irishman, for Matteo Pelucchi. In any case, the 206km leg from Alghero to Olbia, flat save for a trio of fourth-category climbs, was meant to end in a bunch kick and the pink the jersey on the shoulders of one of the peloton's fastmen.

But when Pöstlberger took up the reins with a couple of kilometres remaining, shortly after a crash had disrupted the bunch, a gap appeared between himself and Caleb Ewan's Orica-Scott lead-out man. And it only got bigger, as Bennett urged his lead-out man to crack on over race radio. More splits emerged in the technical city streets and Pöstlberger did just that, carrying a healthy lead into the final few hundred metres – enough to sit up and celebrate in the final 100 metres.

As he did so, the riders who everyone had been talking about enacted a somewhat futile sprint for second place, Ewan getting there ahead of Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) – all no doubt bitterly disappointed.

"We wanted to try for a sprint for the final for Sam. Through the city the lead-out trains, I don't know, they lost my wheel or something and I had a gap," explained Pöstlberger.

"I heard over the radio, 'C'mon, Posty, go try!' and I put all I had in. It worked out – victory for the team, first professional victory for me, maglia rosa. I think I will need many weeks to take this victory in. It's unbelievable, really."

The point at which the chaos unfurled was a tight 90-degree right hand bend just over three kilometres out, where a couple of riders crashed and a whole lot more were held up. Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), who came so close to overall victory last year, lost 13 seconds, though all of the other favourites for the general classification managed to finish safely in the main group.

There were hugs, cheers, and general disbelief among the Bora-Hansgrohe riders and staff. The victory was enough but it was pretty much a perfect day for the German team as Cesare Benedetti earned the King of the Mountains jersey from the breakaway. With Pöstlberger leading the general, points, and youth classifications, it's a clean sweep of jerseys for Bora, who also top the teams ranking.

"It's a dream!" said directeur sportif Jens Zemke. "The dream was to take one stage win here. That we did it in the first day is even better. Now we can ride freely, and celebrate three weeks through Italy and enjoy it. We are super happy with these jerseys, it's top."

Highlights

How it unfolded

On the starting line Friday morning in Alghero were 195 riders – three short of the usual Grand Tour quota. Two of them were down to doping disgraces after news emerged of positive tests for Bardiani-CSF's Stefano Pirazzi and Nicola Ruffoni. The Italian Pro Continental team arrived in Alghero as normal and although they weren't met with boos, they were met with a multitude of questions and the inescapable suspicion that they might not be going all the way to Milan.

The other rider missing was Michele Scarponi, who tragically lost his life three weeks ago. The Italian was meant to lead Astana and the team decided not to call up a replacement in his honour, with the remaining eight riders gathered at the front of the bunch on the start line to lead a minute's silence observed by the entire bunch and the hundreds of fans.

The flag dropped and after a brisk start a group of six riders broke clear of the peloton, including an unperturbed Bardiani representative, Mirco Maestri. He was joined by Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Hansgrohe), Marcin Bialoblocki (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Pavel Brutt (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Daniel Teklehaimanot (Dimension Data) and Eugert Zhupa (Wilier Selle Italia). They quickly opened up a lead of over seven minutes in the opening 25km, before the sprinters' teams committed men to the front of the bunch to prevent things form getting out of hand.

That combined effort reduced the gap to 4:30 as the breakaway hit the first of three category-four climbs – the Multeddu at km 63 – on the otherwise flat 206km route up round the Sardinian coast. Benedetti accelerated away three kilometres from the 'King of the Mountains' point and, though Teklehaimanot closed him down, he kicked again, taking Zhupa with him. He comfortably out-kicked the Albanian to earn himself three points and put himself in the provisional lead of the mountains classification.

It was soon time for the second climb - the Trinità d'Agultu – and the outcome was the same, even if it played out differently. Teklehaimanot was the one to go early and opened up a sizeable lead, but Benedetti dragged himself back and shot past in sight of the line to take maximum points once again.

The action on the climb spelled change for the breakaway as Maestri was unable to hold the pace and drifted back to the peloton, while Bialoblocki almost suffered the same fate but managed to haul himself back after a desperate chase.

With 100km remaining, and five riders left in the break, the gap stood at 3:15, with everyone in the peloton playing it calm. The gap didn't get any higher as the riders continued into a headwind, encountering the first intermediate sprint of the 100th Giro after with 70km remaining, whereupon Zhupa claimed the maximum 10 points after a close battle with Teklehaimanot, who missed out again.

The gap came down towards the two-minute mark over the following 40 or so kilometres, which were ticked off in calm fashion ahead of the second intermediate sprint, where this time there were bonus seconds (3, 2, 1) on offer. And finally something went Teklehaimanot's way as he saw off Brutt and Zhupa.

The gap was down to a minute by the San Pantaleo climb – 5km long with some gradients of over 10 per cent – with 26km remaining. Bialoblocki was quickly dropped, while the other four stuck together up to the final 100 metres, whereupon Benedetti sprang clear to make it a full house of KOM points and secure the blue mountains classification jersey for tomorrow's stage.

There was no action back in the bunch as Orica-Scott's Svein Tuft led for most of the climb, helping to cut the deficit to 45 seconds. The gap was still almost 30 seconds under the 10km to go banner, where the sprint teams were already setting up their trains, alongside those of the GC teams looking to keep their leaders out of trouble.

It was still bunched together under the 5km banner but it soon lined out as Quick-Step's GC man Bob Jungels took it up for Gaviria. That spelled the end for the break, and things soon got hectics with a couple of tight bends. One 90-degree right-hander caused a crash for BMC's Silvan Dillier, holding up a number of riders – just shy of the crucial safety net of the 3km to go mark.

UAE took it up, then Bora took over with 2km to go. Or at least that's what we thought. In reality, it turned out to be the start of one of the unlikeliest solo victories you're likely to see at a major race all season – one that kicked off the 100th Giro in classic Giro fashion.

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