Van der Poel sprints to victory to win first stage of Giro d'Italia
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Van der Poel sprints to victory to win first stage of Giro d'Italia
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Fenix won the first stage of the Giro d Italia on Friday, beating Biniam Girmay on the final sprint to claim victory on the a 195-km flat ride from Budapest to Visegrad.
In a stage marred by crashes, Dutchman Van der Poel was neck-and-neck with Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert s Girmay but timed his attack to perfection to cross the line first with a time of four hours, 35 minutes and 28 seconds to take the Maglia Rosa.
Pello Bilbao of Bahrain Victorious was third while Lotto Soudal s Caleb Ewan crashed at the final turn when he made contact with Girmay.
