Vingegaard shows intent on Giro climb as Silva takes pink

Race favourite Jonas Vingegaard made his rivals sweat Saturday on stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia, a hilly 221km won by Guillermo Silva of Astana, who also took over the race lead.

Vingegaard crossed the line in the same time as Silva of 5 hours 39 minutes 25 seconds after an eventful run from the Black Sea at Burgas westward into a remote hilly interior region where this Giro ended for a clutch of riders in a mass fall.

A crack in the road on a sharp corner provoked a twisted mess of bodies and bikes with around 30 riders either piled atop each other or strewn over a barrier.

Santiago Buitrago and Derek Gee-West both staggered away in pain while Adam Yates re-embarked covered in mud and blood as Remi Cavagna waited for an ambulance feebly clutching his wrist.

After the race was briefly neutralised, the two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard broke on the last big climb but he, Giulio Pellizzari and Lennert Van Eetvelt were caught on a narrow, cobbled village road 1 kilometre from the finish at Veliko Tarnovo.

Uruguayan Silva was fastest at the line taking the race lead from French rookie Paul Magnier of Quick Step, who won Friday’s bunch sprint after the 22-year-old avoided another nasty late pile up.

Sunday’s third stage, the last one in Bulgaria, runs from Plovdiv to Sofia where the sprinters should provide a late shakedown. Monday is a rest and travel day.

Vingegaard has to wait until stage seven for a first real mountain with a near 14km climb at over 8 percent up Mount Blockhaus in the Apennines.

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