Giro d'Italia: Giro d'Italia: Third Giro stage win for Marcel Kittel

Cycling: Marcel Kittel (Etixx – Quick Step) celebrated the third Giro stage win of his career today in Nijquanten, Netherlands. The German sprint star achieved the eighth day's success this season. He is one second behind the Maglia Rosa in the overall standings. There was nothing to see from André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) in the crash-free stage final.

Over ten minutes ahead for the escapees

After yesterday's heart-stopping finale in the prologue in Apeldoorn, a calm stage was expected today. No wonder, because the profile over 190 km from Arnhem to Nijmegen should not present any difficulties. The field of riders had to pass two sprint classifications and one mountain classification of the 4th category within the last 55 km, before a circuit in Nijquanten was ridden twice. With the Italian Giacomo Berlato (Nippo – Vini Fantini), the Dutchman Maarten Tjallingii (Lotto NL-Jumbo) and the Spaniard Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), a group of three took the lead immediately after the start. The lead was quickly extended to more than ten minutes before Giant - Alpecin picked up the pace a bit in the field. In the knowledge, of course, that the sprinter teams will soon be involved in the management work. With Etixx - Quick Step, Marcel Kittel's team felt responsible for the mass sprint, which was not surprising given their role as favourites.

Omar Fraile grabs the mountain jersey

From then on, the lead melted away and so it quickly became clear that the breakaways would make up the intermediate rankings among themselves, but they would not have a say in winning the stage. While Maarten Tjallingii lost both sprint classifications without a fight, Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek – Segafredo) won twice in the field. The Italian has already signaled that he wants to repeat last year's points classification. Very different from the German sprinters Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel, because the two did not participate in the intermediate sprints, but saved their strength for the final sprint. After briefly covering four kilometers on German territory, the escapees tackled the Berg en Dal. Cycling fans still know Omar Fraile from last year's Vuelta. There he won the mountain jersey through numerous attacks. So it was not surprising that he secured the only mountain classification today. This makes the 25-year-old Spaniard the first wearer of the azure mountain jersey this year.

Marcel Kittel WINS and has Rosa in mind

After the interim rankings, the breakaway group was out of breath as the lead had already dropped to less than three minutes. A desperate solo ride by Giacomo Berlato also failed and the field was able to catch the last breakaway 10 km from the finish. Especially the moves of FDJ for Arnaud Demare and Etixx - Quick Step for Marcel Kittel got caught in the last few kilometers in order to get their sprint aces perfectly in position. In the end, however, it was Marcel Kittel's massive superiority that didn't give any of his competitors the slightest chance. The fastest sprinter in the field confidently prevailed against Arnaud Démare (FDJ) and Sacha Modolo (Lampre - Merida). Giacomo Nizzolo only crossed the finish line in tenth place and there was no sign of the German André Greipel in the final sprint. After Marcel Kittel struggled with injuries last year, he now proved his good shape with his eighth day win of the season. Not only does he take over the Maglia Rossa for the points with the most points, but due to the time bonus he is only one second behind the overall leader and his former teammate Tom Dumoulin (Giant – Alpecin). He could already snatch the Maglia Rosa from him tomorrow, because a mass sprint is also to be expected on the 3rd stage.

Video Summary Stage 2

Results Round d´Italy  Stage 2

Results Round d´Italy  Overall rating