Mathieu van der Poel successfully defended the pink leader’s jersey in the Tour of Italy on Saturday. In the time trial, the rider from Hoogerheide finished second, three seconds behind Briton Simon Yates. But that performance was good enough to continue to lead the general classification.
Van der Poel started Saturday on a time trial bike sprayed pink especially for him after he won the opening stage the day before. In a sprint uphill he beat Eritrean Biniam Girmay.
Today, however, he had to acknowledge his superior in Yates. He completed the time trial of more than 9 kilometers in 11.53 minutes. The Briton won with a time of 11.50. The Dutch time trial champion, Tom Dumoulin, finished third. In turn, he was five seconds slower than Yates.
Sicily
On Sunday, the peloton will ride a flat stage in Hungary. On Monday, the riders will fly to Sicily, where the Giro continues on Tuesday.