UAE Team Emirates’ Sacha Modolo crossed the finish line at the first stage of the 100th Giro d’Italia amongst the top five alongside Caleb Ewan (ORICA – Scott), Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek – Segafredo).
Modolo was in great form, garnering a significant fifth place as Austrian Lukas Poestlberger (BORA – Hansgrohe) was victorious.
“I am pleased with the outcome of today’s stage,” says Modolo. “Today’s stage was a good opportunity to try and clinch the Pink Jersey. Mohoric supported me until Ferrari was able to launch me into a long sprint unfortunately it was a bit too late as Lukas Poestlberger (BORA – Hansgrohe) had closed the gap between him and the sprinters.
“I would like to congratulate Poestlberger for a fine performance. I am in good form and this is only the beginning. I am looking forward to the upcoming stages and would like to thank my team for all the support.”
Stage two is hillier than the opening day of the Giro; the riders start in Olbia with three long climbs and a flat finish of 1.8km on wide roads to Tortolì.
Whilst the riders from the Giro compete in stage three of the Giro from Tortolì-Cagliari on Sunday, 7 May another eight UAE Team Emirates riders will be racing in Switzerland at the Gran Premio Citta di Lugano.
This is a hilly course that starts and finishes in Lugano, with an average gradient of 4.4% peaking at 20.3% in sections.
Riders loop the 23.2km circuit eight times over the 184.9km course. Emirati cyclist Yousif Mirza commented on the change to racing in Europe over the UAE: “The Gran Premio di Lugano race will be my second race in Europe, and my goal in this race is to help my teammates take a win. European races are very different to those in the Middle East so I am trying to adapt myself to racing in Europe conditions.”
Joining Mirza in Lugano is a UAE Team Emirates line up of Anass Ait El Abdia, Matteo Bono, Simone Consonni, Filippo Ganna, Oliviero Troia, Vegard Stake Laengen and Federico Zurlo.
TOP FIVE RACE RESULTS FOR STAGE ONE
| 1 | Lukas Poestlberger (BORA – Hansgrohe) | 05:13:35 |
| 2 | Caleb Ewan (ORICA – Scott) | ….. |
| 3 | Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) | ….. |
| 4 | Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek – Segafredo) | ….. |
| 5 | Sacha Modolo, UAE Team Emirates | 0:00:10 |
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE ONE
| 1 | Lukas Poestlberger (BORA – Hansgrohe) | 05:13:35 |
| 2 | Caleb Ewan (ORICA – Scott) | 00:00:04 |
| 3 | Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) | 00:00:06 |
| 4 | Pavel Brutt (Gazprom – Rusvelo) | 00:00:09 |
| 5 | Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek – Segafredo) | 00:00:10 |
| 6 | Sacha Modolo, UAE Team Emirates | 00:00:10 |