Jay Vine third in Giro d'Italia time trial as Luke Plapp finishes last after fall
But while Vine rebounded magnificently from a first-stage spill that he had feared might prevent him from continuing the race, compatriot Luke Plapp, the national time trial champ who had been flying through the streets of Tirana, had his chances flattened by his own crash.
Vine delivered a superb ride on the 13.7-kilometre circuit around the Albanian capital 24 hours after he had taken a heavy fall and finished only three seconds behind British stage winner Josh Tarling and two seconds adrift of race favourite Primož Roglič, who ended the day in the leader's pink jersey.
2023 Australian time trial champ Vine had his right knee heavily strapped after he was unable to avoid a first-stage accident that ended Mikel Landa's Giro.
Saying his thoughts were with the Spaniard, who endured a fractured vertebra not dissimilar to those sustained by Vine in a crash at last year's Tour of the Basque Country, the Australian admitted before the second stage: "Honestly, I wasn't even sure I'd be able to start today, but the knee's feeling much better and I'll be back on the start line."
This time the misfortune was all with Jayco AlUla's Plapp, the three-time Australian time-trial champ who slid off his bike earlier in the day as he rounded a tight corner and, after remounting on a new bike, could only limp home as the slowest finisher among the 182 riders some four minutes adrift.
No-one could match the 16 minutes and 7 seconds from 21-year-old British champ Tarling, who became the youngest ever Giro time trial winner.
But 2023 Giro champ Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) demonstrated he is in the mood to regain his title as he powered home fractionally short of his target.
Michael Storer, Australia's best hope of challenging Roglič in the overall standings, also had a super day, finishing 19th on the stage in 16:35. Among the GC contenders, the Tudor Pro rider, the recent Tour of the Alps victor, is ninth overall, 27 seconds behind the Slovenian leader.
Denmark's Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), the opening-stage winner on Friday, could only finish 12 seconds behind in seventh, having to relinquish the leader's jersey to Roglič by a mere second.
But he may have a good chance to regain it on Sunday in the last of the Albanian stages in a 160km ride that starts and finishes in Vlore.
Australia's 2022 Giro champion Jai Hindley was 35th quickest on the day but lies 16th overall, 39 seconds behind.
AAP
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