Pietrobon’s first breakaway in this Giro, on Maestri’s “home stage”

In the first part of the Giro d’Italia, last year’s breakaway classification winner Andrea Pietrobon left the spotlight to his teammates. Today, the 26-year-old rider took center stage even before the race began, entertaining the crowd during the team presentation with a fun exchange alongside the official speaker. Then at km 4 he launched the breakaway with Epis (Arkéa) and Tarozzi (VF Bardiani) riding with them for about 140 kilometers through the hills of Reggio Emilia and the Po Valley toward the province of Mantua, with a gap of around two minutes.

When the other two riders were caught, the Polti VisitMalta rider stayed up front and soloed through the Red Bull KM in Brescello. He was eventually reeled in on the first passage across the finish line with 27 km to go. That’s when Mirco Maestri took over, riding with a special emotion as this was his home stage. The captain led out Giovanni Lonardi in the approach to the flamme rouge, during which Fran Muñoz was unfortunately caught up in a crash. In the sprint, won by Kooij (Visma) Lonardi finished 21st.

Sports Director Stefano Zanatta: “Another day on the attack — Pietrobon was feeling good and we decided to go for it, also encouraged by a tailwind. He earned the blue number, we’ll find out if he also gets to wear the red one for combativity. The sprinters’ trains left no room, but our guys worked well. The finale was very chaotic, Muñoz took a few hits but thankfully nothing serious. Like all of us, he’s ready to go again tomorrow in Veneto where an explosive finish on Monte Berico awaits us.”