It was a crazy, final 20km for the Movistar Team on stage two of the 2015 Giro d'Italia, which started off calmly - its 177km parcours from Albenga to Génova containing only one categorized climb before a generous final circuit in the Ligurian port city - and became hectic with two consecutive crashes.
The first one saw Dayer Quintana sliding off into a crosswalk, crashing against his left side. The wounds didn't prevent him from finishing the stage and shouldn't see him missing out on the start of stage three, but will definitely leave a mark on his debut in a Grand Tour.
The second pile-up, 12km from the finish, saw the bunch breaking into several groups and leaving only one of the Blues, Ion Izagirre, at the front. Intxausti, Amador, Visconti and Igor Antón managed to get back into the main field - with Viviani (SKY) becoming the fastest in the 'volata' - but it wasn't the case for Lobato, who had to get off his bike (without crashing) and lost one of his chances to search for a stage win in this year's 'Corsa Rosa'.
Monday will bring another chance for the riders directed by Jaimerena and Garcia Acosta, with plenty of climbing in a short (136km from Rapallo to Sestri Levante), complicated stage three including the Cat-2 ascent of Barbagelata.
17.04 - 21.04: Tour de Tunisie |
18.04 - 21.04: Eroica Juniores |
19.04 - 21.04: EPZ Omloop van Borsele |
20.04 - 21.04: Gipuzkoa Klasika |
21.04: Liège-Bastogne-Liège |
21.04: Giro della Romagna |
21.04: Gent-Wevelgem U23 |
21.04: EPZ Omloop van Borsele |
21.04: Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes |
21.04: Gent-Wevelgem Junior |
Piotr SKRZESZEWSKI 30 years | today |
Jonas WEIH 33 years | today |
Matthew WALLS 26 years | today |
Celina CARPINTEIRO 44 years | today |
Mathew HAYMAN 46 years | today |
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