Simon Yates wins stage two of the Giro d’Italia in Budapest

Team BikeExchange-Jayco’s Simon Yates won Saturday’s second stage of the Giro d’Italia, a 9.2-kilometer individual time trial around Budapest, while Alpecin-Fenix’s Mathieu van der Poel retained the leader’s pink jersey.

British rider Yates finished the race in 11m50s, three seconds ahead of Van der Poel, who won Friday’s Maglia Rosa after winning stage one.

Team Jumbo Visma rider Tom Dumoulin was third, finishing five seconds behind Yates.

Yates is now 11 seconds behind Van der Poel as Sunday’s race enters its third stage, a 201-kilometer ride from Kaposvar to Balatonfured.

“This is definitely my best time trial win. Of course I’m very happy. It’s a bit unexpected,” said Yates after the fifth Giro d’Italia stage win of his career.

“I drove as fast as I could, even on the flat. I was never confident that I would win until Mathieu van der Poel crossed the finish line. Today it was only 10 minutes. There will be many more to come.”

Van der Poel said he was happy with his performance.

“I would have signed for this performance before the start. I did a very good TT (time trial),” said the Dutchman.

“The gap to first place is very small. I got myself an extra day at the Maglia Rosa, maybe more because it was supposed to be a sprint finish tomorrow and I’m very happy with that.”

Cycling’s biggest names like last year’s Giro winner Egan Bernal, reigning Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic are all absent from this year’s Italian Grand Tour.