Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) powered to victory on stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico, edging out Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in a three-way, uphill sprint in San Gimignano.The trio had got away after Van der Poel put the hammer down on a long gravel sector in the final 8km, and though he couldn't get away solo after Isaac del Toro chased him down, the Dutchman had just enough speed – and stability on wet paving slabs – to win.It wasn't a totally smooth ride, with a wobble on a wet gravelled corner almost costing Van der Poel, but the cyclo-cross world champion held it up and worked with Del Toro to hold off the chasing group.A crash on the same corner as Van der Poel's slip saw Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) lose a big chunk of time, falling down the GC after finishing second in the opening time trial, as the gravel and rain shook up the overall standings.Though he missed out on the win, Del Toro moved into the race lead, three seconds clear from Pellizzari. He will wear the blue jersey on stage 3, taking over from stage 1 winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), who finished just over a minute down, and the Mexican will be a favourite to defend the lead all the way to the end of the race."Very difficult," Van der Poel said about beating two young talents in Del Toro and Pellizzari. "The level was incredibly high on the last climb, especially with the rain in the last half an hour; it was quite tricky. But I think the team did a really good job."Though it came down to a small sprint, it was Van der Poel's big accelerations on the gravel that made the race and the selection."First Julian Alaphilippe went and then I tried to take the front just because I knew there were some quite technical corners. I just tried to make the race as hard as possible," he said."[The sprint] was really difficult, especially [because] the road and the surface were quite slippery, so it was difficult to stand up in the sprint, and I just saved enough energy to win."I'm here, of course, to prepare for San Remo and the other Classic races, but also to try and win a stage. Last year I was close a few times, so I'm happy to take a stage win again here in Tirreno."
