Benson Bulletin: Giro d'Italia stage 1 🇮🇹
No spoilers but a lot happened on the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia. Come this way for complete race analysis.
Hi Subscribers,
So I’m heading to the Giro on Monday, but until then I’ll revive the ‘Benson Bulletin’ from last year’s Tour de France.
They’re digests of the most important storylines from each Giro d’Italia stage, with sound files, results, and analysis thrown in. I’ll try not to include spoilers in headlines and lead images, but today we cover Mads Pedersen, the GC situation, Thymen Arensman, Lidl-Trek, and the latest transfer news.
To coincide with the Giro d’Italia, I’ve set up a ✨ special 20% sale ✨ on annual subscriptions. Just click on the link below to sign up. For roughly £1 a week, you get all the stories on my Substack, including all the transfer exclusives.
A Mads masterclass 👚
From the outset, stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia was chaotic and incredibly nervous. Juan Ayuso had a small spill with around 90km to go; the roads were tight and technical throughout, and the pace was high for the majority of the day. It was everything you’d expect from a cagey opening stage in a Grand Tour.
In addition, we saw splits on the two ascents of the Surrel climb, as several sprinters cracked, and several other high-profile GC riders followed suit. We saw Mikel Landa crash out and head to the hospital, and in the end, only 36 riders finished in the front group.
The only constant, the only tangible consistency throughout the entire 160km from Durrë to Tirana, was Lidl-Trek and their pursuit of victory. They were everywhere, aggressive yet measured, and faultless in the final sprint.
The American team lit the race up inside the final 35km, but they were also present and accounted for in the early phases of the stage, ensuring that the break didn’t gain too much time, and then rallying to Pedersen with some truly amazing pace-work.
The entire team contributed, with exceptional turns from Carlos Verona, Giulio Ciccone, and Mathias Vacek. The latter laid down a perfect lead-out for Pedersen in the final few hundred meters. This collective effort threaded a tight needle between dropping the pure sprinters and maintaining Pedersen’s sprint in the final.
Ultimately, the Dane had enough to hold off Wout Van Aert to win the opening stage and take his first leader’s jersey in a Grand Tour. He’s having an exceptional season.
"To win stage 1 and go in the Maglia Rosa is absolutely amazing. It's incredible that the team worked that hard. I'm happy to pay them back with the win. Our exact plan was to push very hard on the climb and make it a smaller group for a sprint. You always have to be afraid of Wout van Aert, he's a really good bike rider. It's not given to win when he's in the group. We had to handle that with respect and a bit of fear as well. Today I had the legs to finish it off for the team. It's the first leader's jersey I get in a Grand Tour, it's something nice,” Pedersen said at the finish.
It’s no coincidence that both Pedersen and Vacek have signed new long-term deals with Lidl-Trek.
Déjà vu for Arensman 🇳🇱
I spoke to Thymen Arensman ahead of the Giro during the Tour of the Alps. I didn’t write up the quotes at the time, but he told me the following.
“The ideal scenario is to do a GC at the Giro and then go to the Tour and help the team, and go for stages. I hope that the team lets me ride the Tour. That would be my ideal programme. I just need to get the best out of myself and out of my body, and then we’ll see. I can’t put a placing on it. I just want to focus on myself,” he said.
I asked him what the missing piece was when it came to making the next step in his GC career, and if it was making sure he started the race strongly.
“I think in the winter, I just calmed down a little bit more. Just mentally, listening to my body in training and having more energy in the races. I’ve shown this year that I can be up there in one-week races. Hopefully it’s the same in the Giro,” he added.