'Practically unbeatable' – Mathieu van der Poel lives up to billing at Giro d'Italia

Mathieu van der Poel celebrates winning stage 1 and taking the first leader's jersey at the Giro d'Italia
Mathieu van der Poel celebrates winning stage 1 and taking th🌸e first leader's jersey at the Giro d'Italia (Image credit: Getty Images)

The citadel of Visegrád lent itself to a coronation, and so it proved. Mathieu van der Poel was the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:outstanding favourite to win stage 1 of the Gi𒉰ro d’Italia and he duly conjured up a sprint of overwhelming forꩲce to take the first maglia rosa of the race.

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) put up fierce resistance in the final 100 metres, but the result was only fleetingly in doubt. Or, as Van der Poel’s teammate Dries De Bondt put it afterwards: “Mathi𒈔eu, when he can choose his own moment in a finish like this, he’s practically u🥀nbeatable.”

Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in ♛The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of , published by Gill Books.