Today the second stage of the 98th Giro d’Italia took place, a sprint stage of 177 kilometres from Albenga to Genova. Immediately after the official start five riders escaped the peloton. With eleven kilometres left to cover, in the first local lap of 9.5 kilometres, they were all caught. At the end the spectators got to see the expected bunch sprint. André Greipel rode in first position in the last hectometres, which were slightly uphill. He was passed by Moreno Hofland and Elia Viviani, who won. Greipel finished on the third place.

“This wasn’t an easy stage, that last climb really hurt," he said. "The entire stage I was positioned in the first part of the peloton. The escapees had a maximal advantage of more than nine minutes. After Orica-GreenEdge had stabilized the gap, we let Sander Armée help in the chase. He did that together with riders of Giant-Alpecin and Trek. The situation never was problematic.

“It was hectic on the local circuit, with some crashes, but I didn’t see those. The plan was that Adam Hansen would put me and Greg Henderson in a good position for the last straight line and so he did.

"With three hundred metres to go I started the sprint, too soon. I made that choice because I didn’t want to get boxed in. Fifty metres from the end Hofland and Viviani passed me. I would have loved to win, but the others were better today. The preparation was fine, but the final touch was missing. Hopefully I can win next time.”