On Friday, Lukas Pöstlberger dared to upset the odds. It’s because the Austrian neo-pro conquered the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia.
Folks had generally expected a bunch sprint at the end of the 206 kilometre stage, including Alghero and Olbia. Lukas rushed to the front of the peloton with a mile left to launch the lead-out for Sam Bennett, his Bora-Hansgrohe Irish team-mate.
However, he witnessed a gap opening up behind him and rushed to grasp his first WorldTour win. André Greipel and Caleb Ewan managed to settle for third and second respectively. As for Lukas Postlberger, he appeared to be 10th.
Meanwhile, Geraint Thomas of Team Sky as well as Nairo Quintana of Movistar managed to finish safely in the pack notwithstanding the disruption provoked by a late crash, outside the 1.5 mile cut-off point which guarantees sportsmen won’t lose time due to an incident.
It’s so sad that not everyone was so fortunate. In the late confusion, some participants lost more than a minute.