Stage 1

The road

At the start

Eight kilometres and a wall

The 102nd Giro opens in Bologna with a time trial so short it barely counts as one: eight kilometres flat through the city, and then the road stands up — 2.1 kilometres at 9.7 per cent to the basilica of San Luca. A minute is all that is on offer. But the first maglia rosa is at the top of it, and every man here for three weeks has to decide whether to gamble on a bike change at the foot.

How it was won

1. 14 km to go

   The GC men roll out

   On the flat opening kilometres through Bologna the clocks start telling stories: Miguel Ángel López, no time-triallist, stuns the sheet before Nibali goes fastest of the favourites.

2. 22 km to go

   The wall of San Luca

   The road tips up into the 2.1km, 9.7 per cent ramp to the basilica of San Luca — the sting in the tail where GC men have gambled on a bike change and the race for pink is really settled.

3. 3At the line

   Roglič blitzes Bologna

   Primož Roglič flies up San Luca, passing his minute-man, the only rider all day to break thirteen minutes. He takes the stage and the first maglia rosa. Simon Yates loses only a single second to him on the climb itself — the other eighteen went on the flat.

The result