German cyclist Marcel Kittel won the second stage of the Giro d’Italia, the tour of Italy, on Saturday by claiming the victory in a bunch sprint in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
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On the third and final stage to be held in the country on Sunday, the Etixx-Quickstep rider again proved unstoppable in a final dash to the finish line of the 190km race from Nijmegen, which saw the peloton chase down the last remnants of an early breakaway just 1km from the line.
Team Sky’s Elia Viviani finished second today, with Trek-Segafredo’s Giacomo Nizzolo third.
Curiously, Kittel’s three wins in three Giro road stages to date have all come on foreign shores: in fact, Kittel has yet to take part in a professional race on Italian soil. “I’m super, super happy to win …” Something unique and I’m very, very proud.
Kittel assured it was far from straightforward, saying: “It was a super tough day”.
With another 10-second bonus in the bag, Kittel will sport the pink jersey for the next stage having replaced Tom Dumoulin of Giant-Alpecin at the top of the general classification.
It appeared as if Kittel’s hopes of ending the day in pink would be thwarted by a fantastic solo effort from Johann Van Zyl, who was one of a quartet of riders who broke away at the start of the stage and at one point had an advantage of more than eight minutes. But the boys did an unbelievable job of keeping me out of trouble and then getting Matteo Trentin, Fabio Sabatini and me into position for the sprint.
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The Giro now heads to Italy, with stage four beginning in Catanzaro on Tuesday.
