Giro d’Italia 2024

Stage 2 – San Francesco al Campo > Santuario di Oropa (Biella) (161km)

Sun 5th May | Scheduled start: 12:55 CET

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Stage 1 Result

1st Jhonatan Narváez (28/1)

2nd Max Schachmann (40/1)

3rd Tadej Pogačar (4/5F)

4th Alex Baudin (300/1)

Stage 1 Bets

Aurélien Paret-Peintre 1pt each way (4 places)

A generous two caps on the chapeau-meter. The result was a surprise – maybe Pogačar is human after all. Stage pick Paret-Peintre was called home in fourth, looking a bit heavier and less beardy than usual. Of course, it turned out to be his teammate Baudin whilst Paret-Peintre himself finished just outside the top 20.

Stage 2 Preview

Stage 2 and straight into GC action with the first-category summit finish of Oropa. The climb itself – 11.8km at an average of 6.2% – doesn’t look too taxing on paper but as we saw on stage 1, such a test so early in the race could catch some riders cold. Knowing that, expect UAE Team Emirates to go hard again to try to expose any weaknesses.

Race leader Jhonatan Narváez is unlikely to be able to hang on to pink on this longer climb, but Ineos Grenadiers will almost certainly honour the jersey by policing the breakaway and keeping the gap manageable. It’s flattish for the first 90km or so which doesn’t help the lighter climbers make the break and that also tilts the stage in favour of the GC men.

Stage 2 Contenders

Tadej Pogačar (4/7; 1.57) didn’t leave everyone in the dust on the San Vito climb as most of us thought and though his team ripped it up the second-category Colle Maddalena and put some top riders in difficulty, they were left shorthanded at the bottom and lost control of the front of the race. They’ll want to put that right and set up Pogačar for the win here whilst putting some serious time into his rivals.

Dani Martínez (20/1; 21.0) stayed with the main group of favourites on stage 1 so we can assume hasn’t come in undercooked despite not having raced for two months. He has an uphill sprint to threaten Pogačar if he’s still with him, but that’s a big if.

Antonio Tiberi (33/1; 34.0) showed excellent form at the Tour of the Alps last month, ultimately finishing third overall and was prominent near the head of the main group of favourites on stage 1. The young Italian has a real chance to make a name for himself for reasons other than killing his neighbour’s cat with an airgun.

Cian Uijtdebroeks (33/1; 34.0) could have a real ding-dong with Tiberi for the white jersey in this Giro and both may even threaten the podium overall. The Tour de l’Avenir winner from 2022 has been relatively quiet since his move to Visma-Lease a Bike but his potential appears limitless.

Geraint Thomas (33/1; 34.0) put up a really good showing on stage 1, finishing comfortably in the main group of favourites. It’s early in the race but yet again he looks to have timed his training well having not shown much all season. However, it’s difficult for Thomas to win stages due to his lack of explosivity and even though a good performance is likely, others are nippier in the finish.  

Ben O’Connor (50/1; 51.0) struggled on the steep San Vito climb but this longer climb with shallower gradients are more to his liking. However, like Thomas, he probably lacks the zip in a finish to make him backable.  

Simon Carr (20/1; 21.0) lost over 10mins on stage 1 but that wasn’t by accident. As with the entire EF Education-Easypost roster here at the Giro, they’re looking to win stages from breakaways so losing time to give them licence to get up the road is by design. Carr comes into the race off the back of a stage win at the Tour of the Alps and it would be no surprise to see the French-Brit bag a win at some point. But the price looks short considering the flat start and the likelihood that Ineos and/or UAE will bring it back together for a GC dust-up.

Although Pogačar didn’t win stage 1, he still dropped and put time into all his GC rivals. We’ll see a repeat here, a solo win and the Slovenian in pink by the day’s end.

But 4/7 shots are no fun. The stage 2 pick is Bahrain Victorious’ Antonio Tiberi. He showed real attacking intent at the Tour of the Alps, is clearly in the form of his life and can sneak a place at decent odds.

Stage 2 Bets

Antonio Tiberi 1pt each way (4 places) @33/1

Posted 00:33 BST Sun 5th May 2024

Prices to win the stage are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change - find the best prices available on the Giro d’Italia at Oddschecker

[Giro d’Italia stage profiles reproduced by kind permission of Ben Lowe at Veloviewer.com]

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