As the finale of stage 1 of the 2022 edition of the Giro d’Italia was playing out with a hilltop finish in Hungary the bulk of the sprinters were more than a minute back. The final climb was too much of an ask for most, but not for Caleb Ewan.
The Australian Lotto Soudal rider was up the front with a group of three, sitting behind Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) and looking ready to strike.
“Even if everybody at the beginning said that it was not the stage for a sprinter, we were convinced, we did the recon and everything. And we are going into this Giro with a lot of ambition, not on the GC but on stages,” Lotto Soudal general manager John Lelangue told.
Ewan – who has also made clear his ambitions for a hilly home World Championships in Wollongong this year – has surprised repeatedly in recent seasons with his ability to make it over climbs that leave other sprinters floundering. Before the Giro d’Italia began, though, he did nothing to dampen the impression that stage 1 – with its 5.5km 4.2% gradient finish – was a big ask for the sprinters and even him.