Yahoo Sport 
Giro d'Italia: Etna explosive, Blockhaus crashes in our week 1 review
During this first week, only two mountain stages were on the program. The fourth stage, arriving on Sicilian volcano Mount Etna, was the first one, and the ninth stage, arriving on top of Blockhaus, was the second one. Besides these two high difficulty stages, the sprinters and breakaway specialists had their chance. Indeed, most of last week’s stages were flat and without major difficulties.
The Giro d’Italia, which is known for being mountainous, will offer the harder stages during the last week of racing. The pink jersey race started well with the unexpected win of the Austrian Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe): while he was going flat out in the last kilometre, leading the way for his leader Sam Bennett, Pöstlberger created a small gap with the peloton and held on until the finish line to claim the major win of his young career.
The “Gorilla” André Greipel (Lotto- Soudal) won the second stage and Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) took over the third and fifth stage. The young Colombian proved once again that he was one of the fastest riders in the peloton this year, after his astonishing first part of the season. Caleb Ewan, member of the Australian team Orica-Scott has been unlucky during the first stages (his foot disengaged from the pedal during the second stage sprint) but won his first success in a Grand Tour in Alberobello, where the finish of the seventh stage was judged.
The fourth stage was the first test for the General Classification contenders, as the riders had to climb Etna. One final long climb of 18km with slopes going up to 12%, it was promising a great battle. However, the lack of initiative from the leaders and the strong head-wind blowing on the top of the climb were a determining factor for the stage win, as a few leaders such as Vincenzo Nibali (Barhain-Merida), tried to escape.
The “Shark from Messina” attacked at 3km of the top, on his homeground, but he stopped his effort a few seconds after, when he saw that all the favourites were in his rear wheel. Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), the last survivor of the morning breakaway, took advantage of the apathy of the peloton to resist and lift his arms up a second time in the Giro (he won the 5th stage in 2016).
The sixth and eighth stage presented great opportunities for puncheurs and breakaway specialists; the Swiss Silvan Dillier (BMC) won his most prestigious victory in Terme Luigiane (the arrival of the sixth stage) and Gorka Izagirre (Movistar) was the strongest on the final kilometer climb leading to Peschici (the arrival of the eighth stage).
The ninth stage was connecting Montenero di Biscaccia to Blockhaus, the second mountain stage on the route of the Giro. The stage was concluded by a 13.6km final climb averaging 9%. It was the first time the peloton was climbing Blockhaus by this side, which is the steepest, hardest and longest one. This stage was the most thrilling so far, as Nairo Quintana (Movistar) sent a strong message to his opponents by winning with a 24 seconds margin on Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ).
READ MORE: Thomas angry as stray police motorbike damages Giro hopes
A disappointing Bob Jungels lost some precious time on the steep slopes of the final climb, as he is now 15th on the GC, 3’30” behind the stage winner. Besides the demonstration of Quintana, the other highlight of the stage was the the crash of the British riders Geraint Thomas (Sky) and Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) involving a Police motorbike.
They were both hoping for a final victory in Milan, in two weeks, and their Giro d’Italia hopes suffered a huge blow after this incident. Thomas, who focused most of his season on the Giro, and Yates, who was being ambitious after his fourth GC place in 2016 Tour de France, will have to review their strategy to work their way up in the GC. Because of the incident, Yates has been relegated at the 16th place in the GC, 4’49” behind Quintana, and Thomas at the 17th place at 5’14”. The other leader of Team Sky Mikel Landa, also invloved in the crash, is now 27’06” behind the pink jersey.
