Guillermo Thomas Silva stuns to win crash-marred Giro stage 2
Stage 2 in Bulgaria has already had its first say on the general classification picture after an attritional stage marred by a major crash with 23km remaining.
Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS Astana) sprinted to victory on stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia in Veliko Tarnovo in inclement weather conditions ahead of Florian Stork (Tudor) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek).
The 221km stage was briefly neutralised following a crash with 23 kilometres remaining, which involved around 30 riders.
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility) were forced to abandon as a result of the crash, while many GC contenders were impacted, with Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) losing more than 10 minutes, and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) also shipping time.
The race resumed not too long before the start of the Lyaskovets Monastery Pass. On the climb, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) made his first impression of the race, launching an acceleration that only Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) could follow.
The trio were caught inside the final kilometre by the chasing pack, and it was the Uruguayan who was the quickest in the sprint to claim the biggest victory of his career and move into the maglia rosa.
How it unfolded
Just like the opening stage, two riders formed the day’s breakaway, and once more, Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti-VisitMalta) was present. However, this time, the mountains classification leader was joined by his teammate Marco Maestri (Polti-VisitMalta).
At 221km in length, the stage was one of the longest in the entire 2026 edition, and the day was made even longer for the breakaway duo when it started to rain.
At the intermediate sprint in Sliven, Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) finished 3rd, picking up 5 points, ahead of Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) in 4th, who took 3.
A consolation for the duo was the fact that Sevilla picked up maximum points at the Byala Pass and the Vratnik Pass, extending his lead in the mountains classification and securing another day in the blue jersey.
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché) found himself distanced from the peloton on the Vratnik pass with 85km remaining, but the Belgian was able to return a short while later, as the weather worsened.
Former Irish champion Ryan Mullen (NSN) produced a gritty performance, spending a significant time on the front of the peloton, keeping the Polti-VisitMalta duo in check. The breakaway would be caught with 26km remaining on the run-in to the Red Bull KM.
There was a big crash with 23km remaining, which involved a significant number of riders. Among those who were involved were Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek), as well as Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), with the Australian forced to abandon the race.
The stage was briefly neutralised as a result of the crash, and the racing resumed with 18km remaining.
Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) won the Red Bull KM, gaining 6 bonus seconds ahead of his teammates Thymen Arensman and Connor Swift.
XDS Astana pushed the pace on the climb, before Davide Piganzoli (Visma | Lease a Bike) took over with Vingegaard in second wheel. Gee-West was distanced early on the climb, and was shortly followed by the race leader, Magnier.
Vingegaard accelerated 600m from the crest of the climb, and burned Jan Christen off his wheel 300m from the top. This forced a reaction from Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) with Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) in the wheel.
At the top of the climb with 10km remaining, there were groups all over the road, as Vingegaard led the race onto the descent with Pellizzari and Van Eetvelt.
The chasing group behind the front trio started to swell in size, with the advantage at 15 seconds with 5km remaining.
As the road began to rise towards the flamme rouge, Christen jumped across to the front trio, as they started to look at one another. This gave Van Eetvelt an opportunity to attack, but the Belgian was marked. The chasing group made contact with 400 metres remaining.
XDS Astana launched the sprint, and it was Silva who had enough for the stage win.
Result: Giro d'Italia stage 2
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