Van der Poel Wins | Gravel Race Chaos & Jorgenson Crash

Mathieu van der Poel lived up to his status as all-terrain classics king by outsprinting Giulio Pellizzari and Isaac del Toro after a wild Strade Bianche-style finale of Tirreno-Adriatico.

Van der Poel, Del Toro, and Pellizzari came together in the final of Tuesday’s second stage after a sinuous, ramping stretch of slick dirt road in the closing 7km provoked carnage behind them.

Matteo Jorgenson crashed out of Van der Poel’s wheel, GC hopeful Thymen Arensman slid out on a bend, and MVDP himself made his second miracle save in two weeks.

The cyclocross ace was forced to dab a foot to stay upright as his wheels slid out beneath him on the rain-sodden Tuscan stones.

“It was very difficult,” Van der Poel at the finish. “The level was incredibly high on the last climb. The rain in the last half hour made it quite tricky, especially. But the team did a fantastic job.”

Van der Poel lit up the race at the start of the gravel strip and held it down against the GC climbers over the jagged 15 percent ramps.

“I wanted to take the lead because I knew there were some tricky corners,” he said. “Plus, I wanted to make the race as fast as possible.”

Del Toro resists Van der Poel for GC lead

Del Toro made the ride of the day by repeatedly countering Van der Poel’s muscle in the final 15 minutes of racing as he sought to drive a wedge into his straggling classification rivals.

It worked.

The mega-Mexican and Pellizzari gained 17 seconds on their GC rivals and went 1-2 on the classification. Del Toro leads Red Bull’s rising Italian by 3 seconds.

U.S. star Jorgenson limited his losses after his crash and made it back to the group of Primož Roglič, Richard Carapaz, and the majority of the GC hopefuls.

Jorgenson’s teammate Wout van Aert had been eyeing a match-up with Van der Poel in the gnarly finale but was caught out of position.

This was must-watch bike racing. Here’s hoping for more across the remaining 5 stages of the Italian race.

Tirreno-Adriatico stage 2: