<\/p>\n
For Flecha, Stage 2 was less about time gaps and more about how Vingegaard handled another nervous day. The stage had been shaped by a huge crash on wet roads, which forced a temporary neutralisation and left several riders injured, delayed or out of the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is solving the problems,\u201d Flecha added. \u201cThe important thing was not to take time at the finish, but to avoid problems. Vingo will give excitement, he is eager, attacking, and it is a pleasure to see him attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contador plays down Pellizzari comparison<\/p>\n
Pellizzari was one of the standout riders of the day, bridging to Vingegaard after the Dane\u2019s attack and then helping form the front trio with Van Eetvelt. It was a strong early statement from the Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe rider, who finished fifth on the stage and moved into the top 10 overall.<\/p>\n
Contador, though, was careful not to turn one sharp response into a direct challenge for Giro leadership. \u201cI see him as interesting for fighting for the podium, not for fighting for the win,\u201d Contador said. \u201cVingegaard is on another step, at another level, and to say anything else would be not to be faithful to reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
That does not mean Contador dismissed Pellizzari\u2019s ride. Instead, he placed it in the context of a three-week race where opportunity and team hierarchy could both shape the Italian\u2019s role.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a young rider who is not going to have many opportunities, with Lipowitz, with Evenepoel, with Roglic,\u201d Contador explained. \u201cFor the moment, he has been a little mortgaged. Right now, having leadership status in his home race, he will try to take advantage of it, but he will be dependent on Jonas Vingegaard, who is the clear favourite and the clear man to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crashes already changing the Giro<\/p>\n
Contador also pointed to crashes as the clearest danger to Vingegaard\u2019s Giro ambitions. Stage 2 underlined that threat brutally, with UAE Team Emirates – XRG hit hard by a mass fall on wet roads before the final climb.<\/p>\n
Adam Yates lost major time after crashing, while Jay Vine and Marc Soler were taken to hospital. Santiago Buitrago was also forced to abandon after being involved in the same incident.<\/p>\n
For Contador, that is where the Giro can shift away from pure strength and toward survival. \u201cToday it was there,\u201d he said. \u201cWe saw how Adam Yates has said goodbye to the general classification and almost to the race, and that can be the biggest obstacle for riders like Vingegaard or the biggest ally for cyclists like Pellizzari.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flecha also looked beyond Vingegaard and Pellizzari when assessing the early GC shape, comparing Netcompany Ineos with Red Bull\u2019s wider set of options.<\/p>\n
\u201cComparing INEOS and Red Bull, I think that at INEOS they are both diesels, both Arensman and Bernal, and at Red Bull we have the explosiveness of Pellizzari, who responds in finishes like today\u2019s, while Hindley needs more difficulty. They have that combination,\u201d Flecha said. \u201cAt INEOS, they have less covered. They are two similar profiles, they are going to find the same situations. At Red Bull, they can cover more.\u201d<\/p>\n
After two stages, Vingegaard has not yet taken time on the riders still around him. But for Contador and Flecha, the early signs are already clear: the Giro favourite looks ready, Red Bull have cards to play, and the race\u2019s biggest danger may be the chaos that arrives before the mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For Flecha, Stage 2 was less about time gaps and more about how Vingegaard handled another nervous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":950665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[228623,4230,181975,42456,186915,31323,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-950664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-alberto-contador","9":"tag-cycling","10":"tag-egan-bernal","11":"tag-giro-ditalia","12":"tag-giulio-pellizzari","13":"tag-jonas-vingegaard","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116550921530811504","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=950664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=950664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=950664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}