Denmark’s Mads Pedersen outsprinted Wout van Aert to win the first stage of the Giro d’Italia in Albania.
Britain’s Tom Pidcock finished fifth for his new Q36.5 team, in a race in which the 25-year-old hopes to contend for the coveted overall pink jersey and also win stages.
But another contender for pink, Mikel Landa of Spain, crashed violently with about 5km to go, with the Soudal-Quick Step rider appearing to collide with a lamppost on the approach to the centre of Albania’s capital city Tirana.
He was placed in an ambulance at the scene and has subsequently abandoned the race.
Lidl-Trek’s Pedersen will wear pink in Saturday’s second-stage time trial after benefiting from the pace set by his team-mates on the front of the peloton over the final Surrel climb, which saw the pure sprinters in the race dropped from the leading bunch.
“It’s absolutely amazing, especially after the team work like this, it’s really incredible that the team works that hard and I can pay them back with a win,” he said.
Pedersen is a highly decorated rider, having won the 2019 Road World Championship, one-day classics and now his seventh Grand Tour stage.
The 29-year-old beat Visma-Lease A Bike’s Van Aert to the line by a wheel – the Belgian is expected to be Pedersen’s main rival for the ciclamino-coloured points jersey.
An exhausted Van Aert said afterwards: “You only get one or two chances to take pink, but on that last climb I struggled to stay in.”