It was a kind of homecoming.
Every pro has stage types that suit them. This one could have been designed for Peter Sagan. As the experienced Dario Cataldo, born in today’s start town of Lanciano, put it, “It’s a tricky stage, as they often are when the Giro is in central Italy. The successions of small climbs can even be dangerous for the GC riders…” Such days don’t come around often – partly because, when they do, the winner is a foregone conclusion. So, lacking stages made to measure for him, Sagan has had to adapt himself to other conditions, becoming a pretty effective bunch sprinter, a winner on the cobbles (even if, in his book ‘My World,’ he admits he doesn’t so much float over the cobbles as collide with them, suffering punctures as a result), and a specialist in the points competitions.