12/04/2023

Niccolo Bonifazio wins a bunch sprint to take stage 2 of the Giro di Sicilia with Mark Cavendish outside top 10

Stage 2 of the 2023 Giro di Sicilia has been won in a sprint finish by Niccolo Bonifazio ahead of Vincenzo Albanese and Blake Quick in Vittoria.

With the second stage of the Giro di Sicilia taking the riders from Canicatti to Vittoria, a bunch sprint was expected to be the outcome at the end of the race. Nevertheless, a nine-man group including Charles Planet (Team Novo Nordisk) and Riccardo Ciuccarelli (Biesse - Carrera) went up the road.

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Unsurprisingly, Astana Qazaqatan Team were doing a lot of the hard work at the front of the peloton as the kilometres ticked down. Their hope clearly being to reel in the breakaway and give Mark Cavendish the opportunity to take his first victory in the team colours.

Finally, with just under 8kms to go the catch was complete and with the race now fully back together, attention turned to the finale with all the teams' sprint trains fighting to ensure their man was in the best position.

All the general classification riders safely made it under the 3km to go banner before the final run-in to the line commenced. Riding at such a speed the peloton was being absolutely ripped apart. At the front however, it was Niccolo Bonifazio of Intermarché-Circus-Wanty who took the win ahead of Vincenzo Albanese second and Blake Quick in 3rd.