Giro d'Italia 2024 Stage 1

May 4, 2024 Warm sunshine greeted the riders for the first stage of the first Grand Tour of the season. Six riders made it in the break within the first 10KM, Louis Barré of Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Nicolas Debeaumarché of Cofidis, Lilian Calmejane of Intermarché-Wanty, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier of Lidl-Trek, Andrea Pietrobon of Team Polti Kometa, and Filippo Fiorelli of Bardiani CSF-Faizanè. UAE started riding and kept the break close. Ghebreigzabhier attacked the rest of the break going up Superga which extended his lead from the peloton to 3 minutes. Ghebreigzabhier was joined by Calmejane over the top of Superga, leaving just the pair at the front with 60KM to race. The leaders came through the finish line for one lap of a 30KM finishing loop with a lead of just under 2 minutes. Calmejane went clear of Ghebreigzabhier 2.8KM from the top of the Colle Maddalena but UAE set a fast pace on the climb, dropping a few of the expected GC favorites. Calmejane took the mountains points over the Maddalena with the peloton of only 35 riders, less than 10 seconds behind. UAE were down to one rider to control the race with one steep climb before the finish. Seven riders attacked out of the peloton on the flat road and joined up with Calmejane. Nicola Conci of Alpecin-Deceuninck was one of those attackers, he managed to go solo, hitting the final climb with 4KM remaining and roughly 30 seconds ahead of the peloton. Just as the peloton hit the bottom, Tadej Pogačar of UAE attacked with Jhonatan Narváez of Ineos glued to his wheel. The pair got away from the rest, catching the break, including Conci. Max Schachmann of Bora-Hansgrohe was the last of the seven man break to be caught but he had enough to stay with Pogačar and Narváez over the top. Pogačar led the way as the other two were not willing to contribute. In the sprint, Schachmann started first with 200M to go but didn't get a great run. Narváez had the speed to come around Pogačar to take the stage win and the first pink jersey of the race as race leader. Schachmann was able to nip Pogačar in a photo finish for second place, pushing Pogačar into third.