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Andre Greipel comes out on top in stage two of Giro d’Italia

It was a disappointing day for Irish trio Sam Bennett, Dan Martin and Philip Deignan

The new overall leader, Andre Greipel of Lotto Soudal, celebrates on the podium after winning the second stage of the 100th Giro d’Italia. Photo: Getty Images
The new overall leader, Andre Greipel of Lotto Soudal, celebrates on the podium after winning the second stage of the 100th Giro d’Italia. Photo: Getty Images
Sat May 06 2017 - 18:39

Andre Greipel came out on top in a bunch sprint in stage two of the Giro d’Italia to take over the overall lead.

The German got the better of Roberto Ferrari and Jasper Stuyven in the 221-kilometre Olbia-Tortoli stage in a time of six hours five minutes and 18 seconds.

That sees Lotto Soudal rider Greipel take over the pink jersey with a four-second advantage from Lukas Postlberger of Bora-Hansgrohe and eight seconds clear of Orica-Scott’s Caleb Ewan.

Greipel said: “This is a really good one of course. It wasn’t an easy day with the head wind. It made a six hours race but it also played in our favour. Otherwise there would have been some attacks.

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“I’m really proud to win at the Giro again. I’m glad to win for my team-mates who worked for me since yesterday. This stage win and the pink jersey are for them and also for my mother.”

Final leading positions after Stage 2, (Olbia — Tortoli — 221km):

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 6hrs 05mins 18secs, 2 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at same time, 3 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo, 4 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors, 5 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data, 6 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo, 7 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data, 8 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky, 9 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott, 10 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, 11 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale, 12 Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac, 13 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, 14 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors, 15 Lukas Postlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, 16 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale, 17 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-Scott, 18 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott, 19 Adam Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott, 20 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team all at same time.

Selected others: 138 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky at 01min 23secs, 150 Hugh Carthy (Gbr) Cannondale-Drapac at 02mins 58secs, 151 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors at same time, 193 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe at 12mins 49secs.

Leading general classification after Stage 2:

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 11hrs 18mins 39secs, 2 Lukas Postlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe at 04secs, 3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott at 08secs, 4 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at same time, 5 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo at 10secs, 6 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Gazprom — Rusvelo at 12secs, 7 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data at 14secs, 8 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data at same time, 9 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors, 10 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo, 11 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky, 12 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, 13 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, 14 Simone Ponzi (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice, 15 Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, 16 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, 17 Adam Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott, 18 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale, 19 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky, 20 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale all at same time

Selected others: 136 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky at 02mins 46secs, 153 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors at 04mins 21secs, 154 Hugh Carthy (Gbr) Cannondale-Drapac at same time, 188 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgroghe at 13mins 3secs.