130 km of breakaway, with over 60 km solo, today in the second stage of Giro Next Gen Jonathan Vervenne accomplished what can be described as a small feat. His goal was to win the individual time trial and take the first pink jersey, a dream that faded due to the heat and a performance not perfectly suited to his characteristics. Today, the Belgian decided to take everything with interest, or rather, to gift himself something even more beautiful.

"It was a particularly difficult day and I must say that this morning I would never have expected it to go this way. Yesterday after the time trial I was quite disappointed, I was counting a lot on that stage, but unfortunately explosive time trials are not my strong point and so I ended up behind. However, it helped me get used to this very hot climate," explained Varvenne, who is also the Belgian under-23 champion in the discipline. "In the group, everyone believed it would be a perfect stage for sprinters, but I was never too sure. With the team, the goal was to shake things up and create an open race from the start, and I must say the outcome was truly unexpected."

Jonathan Varvenne entered the final circuit in Cantù alone and from that moment not only did he maintain his advantage, but at times even increased it to 2'30", thus completely neutralizing the group. Certainly, there was a lot of waiting in the peloton, but credit must be given to the young Belgian who used his time trial skills to make the difference. "With my breakaway companion Alexandre Barhoumi we quickly found a good agreement, but at a certain point I saw he was struggling and decided to try alone," Varvenne recounted. "Once I was alone, I thought of nothing else but going all out, I was focused only on myself and saw from the signs that the kilometers were getting fewer and this gave me morale. Only when 5 km from the finish did I start dreaming of winning the stage and now everything seems so incredible. The pink jersey was truly unexpected, the goal was to win it yesterday and instead here we are with this beautiful gift."

It's true that unexpected achievements are often the most beautiful, and Jonathan Varvenne is already fully enjoying his pink jersey, the culmination of an unforgettable day. "For me, on Passo Maniva it will be practically impossible to defend it, two years ago on the Stelvio I tried to climb with the best and it didn't go very well, there are many climbers who are faster than me. I'll try to enjoy it to the fullest kilometer by kilometer," says the Belgian athlete with a smile. Perhaps tomorrow won't be his day, maybe it will be more suitable for his teammate Viktor Soenens, the team's classification rider, but it certainly won't be his last attack. From him and his Soudal Quick Step, we can expect another brilliant move.

(Photo credit LaPresse)