Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) celebrated another landmark moment in his still-young career, as he marked his debut at the Giro d’Italia with a maiden win and the leader’s jersey.
"I knew positioning would be the key to win today," van der Poel said. "It was a bit difficult sometimes I got boxed in a few times on the final climb and it cost a lot of energy to catch the guys in front of me.
"In the final, I just launched my sprint and it was pretty close because the legs were full of lactate. But I'm really happy."
The climb up to the line over the final five kilometres was variable in difficulty and while the heavy sprinters fell off the pace, Australian sprint star Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) was right in contention in the final few hundred metres before clipping Biniam Girmay's (Intermarche Wanty Gobert Materiaux) rear wheel and tumbling to the road on the final corner.
While van der Poel went on to win the tough sprint from Girmay, with Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) slipping through for third, Ewan was left to haul himself up and struggle painfully to the line. Scans later confirmed nothing was broken for the Australian and he will start the Stage 2 time trial.
An early race escape by Italians Mattia Bais and Filippo Tagliani (both Drone Hopper Androni-Giocattoli) went unchallenged, the pair allowed to build up a lead that reached a maximum of over 11 minutes.
Despite their lead, they never really looked like threatening the peloton, with Alpecin-Fenix, Intermarche Wanty Gobert Materiaux, Lotto Soudal and Team DSM sharing the duties in chasing.
The duo from Drone Hopper Androni-Giocattoli were duly recovered by the peloton with 13 kilometres left to race and all attention on the final climb of the day into Visegrad.
The early Grand Tour tension saw each of the teams lining out in formation to keep their chosen leaders for the stage in the best possible position.
The teams led out hard into the base of the climb until the road reared upwards, and Lawrence Naesen (AG2R-Citroen) launched an attack with 3.4 kilometres to go. He quickly got a gap with a crash in the peloton disrupting the group as Davide Ballerini (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl) hit the deck.
Lennard Kamna (BORA-hansgrohe) made a strong move with two kilometres left, flying past Naesen as he headed up the climb.
The peloton chased hard and recovered Kamna just inside the final kilometre as the fast men came to the front of the race.
Ewan was prominent as he went to the front of the race, then followed an attack from Wilco Kelderman (BORA-hansgrohe). Girmay was the first to launch the sprint and hit the front of the race, with van der Poel drawing level with a massive effort and passing the Eritrean.
Ewan tried to make up the gap to the front two on the final bend, but overlapped his front wheel with the rear wheel of a blameless Girmay, the Australian tumbling to the ground on the final corner.
Van der Poel and Girmay sprinted it out to the finish, the Dutchman too tired to salute after the explosive effort as he won the stage ahead of the 22-year-old Eritean with Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) in third.
The Giro d'Italia continues with Stage 2 tonight, a 9.2-kilometre time trial in Budapest. Watch the full stage LIVE and FREE on SBS On Demand from 9.50pm AEST, with the SBS broadcast starting from 10.40pm AEST. WA viewers can watch via SBS VICELAND from 8.40pm AEST.
