Giro d'Italia 2022: Lightening-quick Simon Yates storms to Stage 2 Time Trial victory in Budapest

Team BikeExchange Jayco’s Simon Yates produced the time trial of his career to win stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia, and put himself in a strong position in the general classification going into stage 3. Mathieu van der Poel narrowly missed out on the stage win, coming in second to retain the maglia rosa.

Ahead of the stage, all the talk had been over whether or not the Dutch rider for Alpecin-Fenix could achieve back-to-back stage wins, or whether his compatriot, Tom Dumoulin, would be able to best him. The two were side-by-side in the final standings, but nobody could have predicted the incredible form of the British rider, who followed up on his strong time trial at Paris-Nice earlier in the Spring to prove that it was no fluke.

Ad/> It was a good day for British riders, as the early pace was set by former hour record-holder Alex Dowsett of Israel Premier-Tech. Just the fifth rider to roll off the start ramp, Dowsett remained in the hot seat and saw over forty riders come and go without troubling his time.

Giro d'Italia'Wonderful to see' — Huge support from excited Hungarian fans for home town ridersAN HOUR AGO It was a Jumbo Visma rider, former Dutch national champion Jos van Emden, who finally toppled Dowsett, but he didn’t remain on top for long, as his team mate Edoardo Affini bested his time just a few minutes later. As a time trial specialist, Italian rider Affini was one of the favourites going into the stage, but the same could not be said for the rider who eventually ousted him from the hot seat, Bora-Hansgrohe’s Lennard Kämna.