Van der Poel looking for a second stage win in Jesi: "It does look like a promising final"

After the second rest day of the Giro d'Italia, Mathieu van der Poel is for the time racing in the second week of a Grand Tour. Stage 10, with a finale in Jesi today, sees him as one of the main favourites and he's shared his thoughts ahead of the stage.

Talking to CyclingPro, he's said at the start in Pescara: "What do my feelings say? Difficult… We don't know the course like the back of our hand in a Grand Tour. We now base ourselves on what is in the road book. However, it does look like a promising final."

With several hilltops that should make life hard for the sprinters, it will not be easy for the likes of Arnaud Démare and Caleb Ewan to survive if the stage is to end in a sprint. The leader of Alpecin-Fenix, together with Biniam Girmay and Magnus Cort Nielsen present themselves as the main favourites - with a late attack also possible to succeed.

The Dutchman was in a similar position in the eighth stage to Napoli, where he joined the day's breakaway. However, he doesn't believe the same scenario is to be expected today: "I think a breakaway has a chance, but today it is more difficult to get away. In the beginning, the flat roads are sought. It remains to be seen how the race will go," he concluded.