There were a few question marks over Primož Roglič’s decision not to take part in any of the one-day Classics following his emphatic win at the Volta a Catalunya earlier this spring. In Spain, two stage wins plus the overall, points, and mountain classifications showed the form was definitely there.
That he had the measure of young rival Juan Ayuso, who was himself fresh from winning the arguably tougher Tirreno-Adriatico, was an indication that any concerns over age or pressure were perhaps a touch hasty. However, not racing through the whole month of April did seem risky given that the Giro d'Italia's opening stages in Albania were going to be frantic.
They contained no high mountains, certainly, but were stages hard enough to expose any deficiencies that might arise following a period away from top-level competition. Mathieu van der Poel may have perfected the art of taking three or four weeks without racing before returning and winning straight away with seeming ease, but as athletes get older, it usually takes a few outings to get used to the demands of the pro peloton.
It wasn’t as if Roglič was sharing the position of top favourite with a rival either, so expectations were high, with all eyes set to be on him.
Arguably, he was going to get through the opening day on experience and freshness, but the individual time trial on day two was the first proper test. Maybe not decisive in GC terms at such an early stage, but a test nonetheless of where he was compared to the other GC hopefuls – and a confidence boost if he came out of it in a strong position.
That he aced this first reference point and took the race lead as a result was both a warning to the other riders that he had rediscovered his time trial abilities he's used so often in the past to make a difference, and more importantly signalled to his team mates at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe that he was ready for the task ahead.
They've shown they are willing to take responsibility to control the race whenever the tactics dictate that someone was going to have to chase or control, but with Roglič already ahead of some of his potential rivals, this first weekend has calmed any doubts that might have lingered.
Pedersen's perfect start
For Lidl-Trek and Mads Pedersen, the visit to Albania has been a mission accomplished. Following a strong start to the season and a Classics campaign that saw him involved in all the major action, he came to the Giro intent on winning the opening stage and taking the first maglia rosa.
As a project, it was ambitious, but it’s been one that the whole team has embraced and executed perfectly. Save for Roglič’s time trial performance getting in the way, they would have held the race lead for the entire Grande Partenza.
Pedersen’s two stage wins were impressive enough on their own, while the real depth of the commitment to make them possible and the manner in which they burned off the specialist sprinters was pretty daunting.
Each time they did so, the climbs were ones that some of the fast men would have expected to hang on a lot longer and then come back on the descent, but the Lidl-Trek boys set that hard a pace that there were fifty riders left in the peloton by the top. It was a climbing speed that I would speculate saw no one in the bunch talking, and once a rider was dropped, he was condemned to his fate.
The first stage set the scene, with the team paying attention all day, riding the break down, and then dispatching the climb on the finishing circuit at warp speed, with Mathias Vacek leading out in the last kilometre.
However, Pedersen’s second win was probably even more impressive. The decisive climb wasn’t in any way a small hill. 10km at 7% is serious, and for the Dane to survive that was quite special.
He launched a super powerful closing sprint from the front and was pushed all the way by Corbin Strong. That just confirmed that Pedersen will likely be the guy to beat for the points jersey by the time the race gets to Rome. In the meantime, the coming stages in pink will be the extra icing on the team’s cake-eating start.
Talented Tarling and no more 'Free Landa'
Usually at this point in any Grand Tour, we would be commenting on how many minutes Mikel Landa had lost, either needlessly or due to his rather average time trialling, but not this time. There are certain riders who seem to be involved in any and every crash. Geraint Thomas, Tao Geoghan-Hart or even Roglič himself spring to mind.
Unfortunately, Mikel Landa is part of that infamous club, and he didn't make it out of the first stage. There'll be no 'Free Landa' at the 2025 Giro, which is a shame for the race and for Soudal-QuickStep, who can now refocus to support Paul Magnier on the sprint days. The mountains of the final week won't be the same without the Basque rider to shake things up.
On a completely different note – Josh Tarling, what a talent! He won the stage 2 time trial and was in the escape of the day with five others the next day. With Caleb Ewan now retired, he's the Ineos rider with the most victories this year, and the team are going to have to be careful in developing him because, as is the way nowadays, the last week is properly hard with long, steep climbs and not always great weather.
They would have noticed, too, that Egan Bernal was the only Ineos representative in the forty-odd group that came to the finish on the opening day. That would have been an interesting debrief in the bus afterwards for sure, and not just because Thymen Arensman got dropped on the final climb.
The basics are that at least one teammate has to be with the GC rider, so although the team is saved by Tarling’s performances, others are flying under the spotlight.
Outside of Mads Pedersen and Lidl-Trek, it hasn’t been an overly spectacular visit to Albania. UAE Team Emirates-XRG are lurking in the background, the Yates twins are separated by three seconds, and Tom Pidcock has been floating around near the front looking for an opportunity to make something happen.
The coming sprint days ought to see Kooij, Bennett and co locking swords in the usual frenetic Giro flat finishes. Maybe there'll be a Wout Van Aert moment, too, but I get the feeling that the current maglia rosa Pedersen will be involved in any and all action for as long as he can be.
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