Giro d’Italia leader Mathieu van der Poel expects to surrender pink jersey on Mount Etna during Stage 4

Giro d’Italia leader Mathieu van der Poel says he will make the most of wearing the pink jersey when the race resumes, as he does not expect to hold on to it for much longer. The Dutch rider goes into the first Italian stage at the top of the leaderboard for his Alpecin-Fenix team having built up an 11-second advantage over Britain’s Simon Yates after the three stages in Hungary. Ad/> “It’s nice to wear the pink and nice to take the jersey to Italy.

I have enjoyed the pink days in Hungary and I am going to enjoy them in Italy too,” he told NOS. Giro d'ItaliaGiro d’Italia Stage 2 as it happened — Yates wins Individual time trial to boost GC chances07/05/2022 AT 06:51 The race resumes with a gruelling 166km mountain stage which finishes up Mount Etna in Sicily. Riders will face a 30km climb to end the stage which is where Van der Poel expects to lose the jersey.

“Normally it won’t be possible to keep the jersey up Etna. I’ll see how it goes and how I feel, but I don’t know how far I can go,” he said. Assessing the next part of the race, the 27-year-old said, “I don’t think it’s possible (to keep the lead).

Or they have to ride up very slowly, but I don’t expect that. We’ll see. We’re going to start and see where it ends up, but I’m expecting to lose time there.” On his debut at the Grand Tour, Van der Poel took victory on the opening day, before coming second on the day two time trial, coming in just three seconds behind Yates in Budapest.