Stage one ended up proving as unpredictable as first thought after DSM-Firmenich-PostNL teammates Frank van den Broek and Romain Bardet surged up the road to take the stage win and the yellow jersey, and stage two looks like a similarly tough stage to call.
The San Luca climb is brutally tough ascent and much closer to the finish than stage one's final climb, meaning there is a half-chance of seeing some GC action, particularly from Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who thrive on steep inclines like this. But with so many tough stages to come, including the first proper mountain stage on Tuesday, the overall contenders may want to keep their powder dry.
Therefore it could be a chance for the punchy stage hunters. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) showed some impressive form on stage one, but he may not be allowed the leeway to attack and instead have to hope it comes down to a reduced bunch sprint.
Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) will be keen to try and take a victory in the Italian national champion's jersey on home soil, and has showed excellent form heading into the race. He certainly has the engine to hold off chasers, but may lack the firepower to lose the climbers in the first place over the climb. His teammate Ben Healy is another option for the American team too.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) certainly does have the firepower to drop almost anybody when he wants to, but he may also want to hold back for future stages and was good to his word when he said stage one was too hard for him (much to this predictor's chagrin).
