One day after his disastrous team time trial, Joaquim Rodriguez had more bad luck at the Giro d'Italia when his key domestique Giampaolo Caruso went down in a crash in today's second stage of the race. The Italian will be examined at hopsital this evening and the team is hopeful that he will be able to continue in the race.

A crash in the feedzone sent Katusha’s Giampaolo Caruso to the ground, causing an injury to his left hand. Caruso was able to finish the stage and was headed to the hospital afterwards to have his hand looked at. Hopefully the pain will soon subside with care from the team’s medical staff. 

Team Katusha director José Azevedo explained: “In the feedzone we had a crash with Caruso going down and for the rest of the stage he was feeling some pain in the hand. We’ll have it all checked out and we hope for the best.”

The second day of racing in northern Ireland came down to a sprint finish for the 97th Giro d’Italia with Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) earning the stage win in rainy conditions. 

Azevedo continued: “More than five hours in the rain made it very hard today. It was cold all day, around 10 degrees. The roads were not so wide in some parts, and with the rain it was very slippery.

"All day the team protected Joaquim and did a very good job to keep him safe. It was a beautiful landscape along the coast and was so green but we wish it had been dry with blue sky. We were prepared, however, as we checked the weather ahead of time and had the right clothing.”

At 219 km, the stage began in Belfast and headed for the northern coastline before turning back to end in the heart of Belfast. The rain fell throughout the day and a cold wind made for unpleasant riding conditions for the peloton of 196 riders. Four riders established a breakaway with a maximum gap of 7:20 while Orica-GreenEdge controlled the front of the main field for race leader Svein Tuft.

Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin) took the final KOM points and then attacked his breakaway companions with 8 km to go, attempting a solo run to the finish line. As the sprint teams went to the front to establish position for the final, the break was nullified and the stage was set for the mass sprint. Kittel positioned himself for the win coming up the middle. Second and third places went to Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing). The pink jersey went to Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge).  

The Giro d’Italia stays in Ireland for one more day with Sunday’s stage 3 bringing another chance for the sprinters. At 187 km, the stage begins in Armagh and ends in Dublin.