The second stage of the Giro d'Italia 2010 took place today between Amsterdam and Utrecht with a leading group of 4 riders which was formed right from the start but finally taken back at 25 kilometers from the finish.

The bunch sprint which was expected for this stage thus did take place and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) turned out to be the quickest. The World Champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) takes the pink leader's jersey.

A summary of the second stage - Amsterdam > Utrecht - of the Giro d'Italia 2010

Early this afternoon, under a grey but dry sky, the 198 riders of the Giro d'Italia 2010 started for the second stage which connected Amsterdam to Utrecht in 210 kilometers.
At 12.22PM the stage started on the N236 just outside Amsterdam and the German rider Paul Voss (Team Milram) immediately decided to attack, a bit later followed by the Italian riders Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago - CSF Inox) and Mauro Facci (Quick Step) and the Dutch Rick Flens (Rabobank).

The peloton controled by Team Sky of the pink jersey, Bradley Wiggins, and HTC-Columbia (who were already working for their sprinter André Greipel) leaves the 4 riders increase the gap, up to 5'42" on the "top" of the Kaapse Bossen where Stefano Pirazzi arrived first on top, followed by Rick Flens and Paul Voss.
On the second and last "top" of the day, in the Amerongse Bos, Paul Voss takes the points, ahead of Rick Flens and Stefano Pirazzi. The gap is up to 6 minutes at that time and the first King of the Mountain jersey of this Giro d'Italia 2010 is for Paul Voss since the 3 riders all have 4 points.

At the only intermediate sprint, in Houten at about 52 kilometers from the finish, the same Paul Voss takes the biggest number of points, ahead of Stefano Pirazzi and Rick Flens. The peloton's gap is than down to 3'05".

Several crashes take place in the peloton, with for example Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) at 50 kilometers from the finish, Guillaume Blot (Cofidis) just a bit later or Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rabobank) in Nieuwegein and numerous massive crashes with one for example with the pink jersey. Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team, photo) is the first rider to abandon this Giro after a crash.

In the mean time, Paul Voss attacks again from the leading group, but at 30 kilometers from the finish he is taken back and Rick Flens than gives it a final try. However, the Dutch rider is also taken back and at 25 kilometers from the finish the peloton is completely back together.

A massive crash at 7.5 kilometers from the finish than disturbs the preparation for the sprint and Filippo Pozzato (Katusha Team, photo) needs the most time to get back in the saddle.

The peloton is thus slightly reduced when it arrives in the streets of Utrecht for a bunch sprint, won by Tyler Farrar of the Garmin-Transitions team, ahead of Matthew Goss (HTC-Columbia) and Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Doimo).

The classifications

The stage classification for the Amsterdam > Utrecht stage

The top 10 of the stage classification is as follows:
1/ Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions)
2/ Matthew Goss (HTC-Columbia)
3/ Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Doimo)
4/ André Greipel (HTC-Columbia)
5/ Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini)
6/ Christopher Sutton (Team Sky
7/ Robbie McEwen (Katusha Team)
8/ Graeme Brown (Rabobank)
9/ Julian Dean (Garmin-Transitions)
10/ Sacha Modolo (Colnago - CSF Inox)

The general classification

In the general classification, Farrar jumps up from the 47th to the second place, but Cadel Evans is the one who takes over the pink leader's jersey with a one second gap on the American. The top 10 of the general classification is as follows:
1/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team)
2/ Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) - +0'01"
3/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - +0'03"
4/ Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) - +0'03"
5/ David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) - +0'04"
6/ Jos van Emden (Rabobank) - +0'07"
7/ Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) - +0'08"
8/ Tom Stamsnijder (Rabobank) - +0'09"
9/ Marcel Sieberg (HTC-Columbia) - +0'10"
10/ Matthew Goss (HTC-Columbia) - +0'13"

The classification by points

With his stage victory, Tyler Farrar takes 25 points for the points classification and thus ends up leading this classification:
1/ Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) - 25 points
2/ Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) - 25 points
3/ Matthew Goss (HTC-Columbia) - 20 points
4/ Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing Team) - 20 points
5/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - 16 points
6/ Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Doimo) - 16 points
7/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - 14 points
8/ André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) - 14 points
9/ Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) - 12 points
10/ Greg Henderson (Team Sky) - 12 points

King of the Mountains classification

With the two 3rd category climbs the organiser RCS managed to find in the track of today's stage, the leading group distributed the points and finally the 3 who took these points end the stage with 4 points each. Paul Voss (Team Milram) will be wearing the green jersey of best climber tomorrow between Amsterdam and Middelburg.
1/ Paul Voss (Team Milram) - 4 points
2/ Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago - CSF Inox) - 4 points
3/ Rick Flens (Rabobank) - 4 points

Best young rider classification

The best young rider so far is Richie Porte of Team Saxo Bank:
1/ Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) - 5h07'12"
2/ Jos van Emden (Rabobank) - +0'04"
3/ Tom Stamsnijder (Rabobank) - +0'06"
4/ Matthew Goss (HTC-Columbia) - +0'10"
5/ Michael Morkov (Team Saxo Bank) - +0'10"

Good and not good!

Looking at the images of today's stage, it became once again clear that the Dutch people came massively to see this stage. Yesterday in Amsterdam there were 150,000 people and according to L'Equipe, Bradley Wiggins would have declared: This time trial remembered me of London (start of the Tour de France 2007). It was like we were passing between two walls of sound on the whole track. It smelled like beer and cigarettes!

Next to this positive point, the negative side of this stage were the many crashes which happened during the stage. While some of them were due to speed blockers, sometimes badly indicated, others didn't really seem to be explained by the state of the road.

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Giro d Italia | Giro d'Italia 2010

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