Primoz Roglic wears pink in the Giro d'Italia after a time trial won by Joshua Tarling

First blow on the table by Primoz Roglic, who made the most of his excellent time trial skills to start gaining time on his rivals and dress, right from the start, with the pink jersey of the leader of the Giro d'Italia 2025. An intense time trial that was won, not without suffering, by the top favorite for the day like Joshua Tarling.

The first time trial of the Giro d'Italia 2025 leaves Primoz Roglic as the leader

Still reeling from Mikel Landa's serious fall, which resulted in a fracture in a vertebra that will require him to be immobilized for a long time, the first time trial arrived at the Giro d'Italia 2025. A short stage, just 13.7 kilometers, on the streets of Tirana marked by a small climb in the middle and a quite slippery asphalt that caused several scares among the cyclists.

We had the first quality reference in the legs of the European Time Trial Champion Edoardo Affini, who stopped the clock at 16:13. The Italian from Visma-Lease a Bike was in the hot seat for a long time until a formidable Jay Vine snatched the best time from him by just 3 seconds.

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However, the Australian didn't have much time to settle in as not long after, the top favorite for the stage victory, the British Joshua Tarling, began his performance. He started strong but was unable to improve Jay Vine's time at the intermediate point. However, in the remaining, more favorable kilometers, the British rider managed to make the most of his brute force, smoothly moving his usual 68-tooth chainring to turn the tables and take 3 seconds from the UAE Team Emirates-XRG cyclist at the finish line.

From this moment on, it was time to start paying attention to the performance of the favorites for the general classification. The first of them to start was Juan Ayuso, who, although he was never close to winning the stage, completed a solid performance, conceding 17 seconds at the finish line to the British rider.

A time that proved to be good as more participants arrived, and we saw cyclists like Egan Bernal lose 32 seconds to the rider from Alicante or the Visma-Lease a Bike's general classification contender, Simon Yates, lose 20 seconds.

Almost at the same time that Ayuso crossed the finish line, Primoz Roglic took to the starting ramp and, from the beginning, left no stone unturned. At the first intermediate point, he matched the best time, held by Mathias Vacek, who couldn't sustain the effort in the final stretch. The Slovenian pushed himself to the limit in the last part but fell short by just 1 second of beating Joshua Tarling at the finish line, leaving the British rider relieved.

After this, the only thing left to determine was what Wout van Aert could offer. However, the Belgian, as he announced a few days ago, did not arrive in optimal form, as seen from the early results. He conceded 39 seconds at the finish line, making it very difficult for him to dream of wearing the pink jersey for at least a day.

We didn't count on Mads Pedersen, who came out to defend his pink jersey. At the intermediate point, he was 9 seconds behind Primoz Roglic out of the 10-second advantage he had thanks to the bonus for yesterday's stage victory. The Dane pushed himself to the limit in the final stretch but fell just short of keeping the coveted garment that distinguishes the leader of the Giro d'Italia by just 3 seconds. However, it wouldn't be surprising if he regained the lead in the coming days through bonuses.

Stage 2 Classification

1. Joshua Tarlin (INEOS Grenadiers) 16'07''
2. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +01''
3. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +03''
4. Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) +06''
5. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) m.t.
6. Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) +08''
7. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +12''
8. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +13''
9. Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) +14''
10. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +17''

General Classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) 3h52'32''
2. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +01''
3. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) +05''
4. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +12''
5. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +16''
6. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +17''
7. Max Poole (Picnic-PostNL) +24''
8. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +25''
9. Michael Storer (Tudor) +27''
10. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +31''