Stage 2 – Budapest > Budapest ITT (9.2km)

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Stage 1 Result

1st Mathieu VAN DER POEL (7/5F)

2nd Biniam GIRMAY (11/2)

3rd Pello BILBAO (25/1)

4th Magnus CORT NIELSEN (33/1)

Watch the final kilometre here.

Stage 1 Bets

Pello Bilbao 1pt each way (4 places) @25/1 – 3rd

Mauro Schmid 0.5pts each way (4 places) @80/1

Chapeau-meter

A decent start and self-marked three caps on the chapeau-meter with Bilbao finishing third and a small profit. Had Ewan not crashed then the top three would’ve come home in betting order, which is surprising considering how chaotic it seemed for a long way up the climb. Schmid finished in 19th and didn’t manage to attack from the field off the ferocious pace – we’ll be on him again later in the race.

Stage 2 Preview

The profile for stage 2 isn’t too dissimilar to that of stage 1, albeit in miniature – flat, with a sharpish rise to the line. At 9.2km, this individual time trial is short and there are multiple turns which will break the rhythm of TT specialists and potentially widen the field of possible winners. 

The riders start in the east of the city, head to the Danube and along each bank, before heading up the cobbled streets to the Castle Quarter. The climb to the line is only 1.3km but starts with double-digit gradients before levelling off towards the line.

Contenders

We have to start with the man in pink – another sensational ride from Mathieu van der Poel on stage 1. His positioning wasn’t great and by his own admission got boxed in a couple of times before he could launch his sprint, but when he did it was just about good enough to overhaul the impressive Girmay. Though not a TT specialist, there’s no doubt Van der Poel will be using his immense power to defend the leader’s jersey here on a course that suits. And remember he defended the yellow jersey last year in a time trial three times longer than this one beating the likes of Roglič and Asgreen. Assuming stage 1 hasn’t taken too much out of him, Van der Poel has a big chance of doubling up and is the main pick.

The favourite for the stage is fellow Dutchman Tom Doumulin. After taking time out of the game, Dumoulin appears to be back in a happy place and results are on the upturn. As a former Giro winner, he’s keeping expectations low this time, but the multiple Dutch TT champion and former world champion is clearly a massive threat should he find that kind of form. It would be great to see Dumoulin back at the very top of the sport and challenge not only in this TT but in the general classification too, but there’s no value in the 6/4 about him for the stage.

Dumoulin’s biggest challenge could come from within his own team with both Eduardo Affini and Tobias Foss in with good chances. The Italian was a monster in last year’s Giro and very nearly pulled off a flat-stage victory when clipping off the front of a leadout only to be overhauled on the line by Nizzolo (not that anyone begrudged Nizzolo the win that day after 11 career runners-up spots in his home race). He was placed in both TTs last year but was off the pace in his only effort this season at Tirreno-Adriatico. 

Former Tour de l’Avenir winner Foss had a breakthrough race at last year’s Giro which started with a huge-priced third on the opening time trial and ended with a top 10 on GC. The young Norwegian is clearly on the up and it would be no surprise to see him repeat something similar this year but comes into this after two nasty crashes at the Volta ao Algarve and Coppi e Bartali so maybe a watching brief is best here.

Many people’s outside tip for stage 1 was UAE Team Emirates’ João Almeida and he himself stated the importance of staying close to the front to give him a shot of going into the lead following this time trial. In the end he was back in 14th and dropped some time on a couple of GC rivals which was a surprise and maybe an indication that he’s not quite in tip-top shape. He’s short too at just 4/1 so we’ll dodge him for now.

Magnus Cort Nielsen came into this Giro off the back of an injury lay-off but showed few signs of rustiness in stage 1 contending for a fourth place finish. He’s no slouch on a TT bike and the short distance and climb suit. He’s within a sniff of pink which no doubt will give him extra motivation for a good ride here – there’s a decent 20/1 about the Dane.

One who could go well at a big price is Team DSM’s Thymen Arensman. He played a huge hand in Romain Bardet’s win at the Tour of the Alps a couple of weeks back and won a spot on the podium for himself. He also finished third on the final TT into Santiago de Compostela at last year’s Vuelta so he knows which way to wear his pointy helmet. The 33s about him is decent enough for a small each-way play.

Stage 2 Bets

Mathieu van der Poel 2pts win @5/2 

Thymen Arensman 0.5pts each way (3 places) @33/1

Posted 22.16 BST Fri 6th May 2022

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