Uruguayan cyclist Guillermo Silva won the second stage of the Giro d'Italia, which was marked by a large number of falls, and thanks to the triumph, he also took the lead in the general classification.
Silva thus became the first cyclist from Uruguay to win a stage at the Giro and wear the leader's pink jersey.
He triumphed with a time of 5:39,25 hours.
The 221-kilometer stage, ridden from Burgas to Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria, ended with a sprint by a larger group of riders, after the favorites were caught just 300 meters from the finish.
Thanks to the help of teammate Christian Scaroni, Silva got into an ideal position to attack and managed to maintain his lead over German Florian Stork and Italian Giulio Ciccone.
Just before the finish of the stage, a serious incident occurred on the wet road, when about 15 cyclists fell in a curve just over 20 kilometers from the finish line.
The race was briefly stopped to provide assistance to the injured drivers.
Briton Adam Yates ended up with blood and mud on his face, but continued the race, while Australian Jay Wine and Spaniard Marc Soler had to retire and were transported by ambulance.
One of the main favorites, Jonas Vingegor, avoided a crash and stayed at the top of the main group in the finale, using his abilities on the climb towards the finish.
The Dane is trying to complete victories in all three major races, after winning the Tour d'France in 2022 and 2023, as well as the Vuelta last season.
Silva now leads the overall standings by four seconds over Stork and Colombian Egan Bernal, while Vingegaard is in 15th place, 10 seconds behind.
The third stage will be run on Sunday from Plovdiv to Sofia, covering a distance of 175 kilometers, and a finish suitable for sprinters is expected.
This year's 109th Giro d'Italia ends on May 31st in Rome.
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