Primoz Roglic laid down an early marker at the Giro d'Italia on Saturday as the Jumbo-Visma rider won the opening time trial in Bologna to take the first maglia rosa in the three-week race. Roglic, who arrived in blistering form having won all three races he has started in 2019, blew away his general classification rivals when the Slovenian set a time of 12min 54sec for the short, but punchy, 8.2km course through the historic capital of the Emilia-Romagna region. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), who on Friday night sounded bullish, saying his rivals should be "s------ themselves" at the prospect of facing him, finished second on the day, 19sec adrift of Roglic. Following the disappointment of his collapse at last year's race when he lost his leader's pink jersey with two stage remaining, the Briton will be buoyed by his performance which saw him finish 4sec ahead of two-time winner Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) while former world time trial champion Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) was a further 5sec back. Another Briton, Tao Geoghegan Hart, produced a stunning performance on only his second grand tour outing following last autumn's Vuelta a España. The Team Ineos rider who along with team-mate Pavel Sivakov is riding as co-leader, finished in seventh spot, just 35sec behind Roglic.<doc-sep>Cycling fans know it's almost that time for the seasonal start of their favorite sport with the G'Iro d'Italia. The Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) is the first of Europe's three biggest cycling events, making up the triple crown of cycling alongside the Tour de France and Vuelta a España. MORE: Watch Giro D'Italia live with fuboTV (7-day free trial) This is the 102nd edition of the great Italian race, which first began in 1909. This year, Giro will start in Bologna — for the first time in 25 years — with an 8-kilometer (6-mile) individual time trial. The remaining trials will take cyclists all over Italy, ending in Verona with two rest days in between. Chris Froome, who in 2018 was the first British competitor to don the coveted pink jersey, will return in 2019 as part of Team Ineos. Sporting News has everything you need to know to tune into the Giro d'Italia 2019, including dates, locations, stage information and streaming option. How to watch, live stream Giro d'Italia 2019 Dates: May 11-June 2 May 11-June 2 Location: Begins in Bologna and ends in Verona Begins in Bologna and ends in Verona TV channel: NBC Streaming: fuboTV (sign up for a 7-day free trial) The 2019 Giro d'Italia is broadcast exclusively on fuboTV, which offers a free seven-day trial for new subscribers. The streaming service will show each stage of the race live and on demand. Giro d'Italia 2019 race stages, schedule (All times Eastern) Stage Date, time (ET) Course Distance Type 1 May 11, 11:45 a.m. Bologna — Bologna (San Luca) 8.2 km (5.1 mi) Individual time trial 2 May 12, 7:10 a.m. Bologna — Fucecchio 105 km (127.4 mi) Flat stage 3 May 13, 7:09 a.m. Vinci — Orbetello 220 km (136.7 mi) Flat stage 4 May 14, 6:40 a.m. Orbetello — Frascati 235 km (146 mi) Uphill finish 5 May 15, 8:55 a.m. Frascati — Terracina 140 km (86.9 mi) Flat stage 6 May 16, 6:05 a.m. Cassino — San Giovanni Rotondo 239 km (147.9 mi) Hilly stage 7 May 17, 7:25 a.m. Vasto — L'Aquila 185 km (115 mi) Hilly stage 8 May 18, 6:15 a.m. Tortoreto Lido — Pesaro 239 km (148.5 mi) Hilly stage 9 May 19, 8:15 a.m. Riccione — San Marino (MSR) 34.8 km (21.6 mi) Individual Tim — May 20 REST DAY 10 May 21, 8:45 a.m. Ravenna — Modena 145 km (90.1 mi) Flat stage 11 May 22, 6:55 a.m. Carpi — Nova Ligure 221 km (137.3 mi) Flat stage 12 May 23, 8:10 a.m. Cuneo — Pinerolo 158 km (98.2 mi) Hilly stage 13 May 24, 6:30 a.m. Pinerolo — Ceresole Reale (Lago Serru) 196 km (121.8 mi) Mountain stage 14 May 25, 8:10 a.m. Saint-Vincent — Courmayeur (Skyway Monte Bianco) 131 km (81.4 mi) Mountain stage 15 May 26, 6:15 a.m. Ivrea — Como 232 km (144.2 mi) Hill stage — May 27 REST DAY 16 May 28, 5:30 a.m. Lovere — Ponte De Legno 226 km (140.4 mi) Mountain stage 17 May 29, 7:20 a.m. Commezzadura (Val Di Sole) — Anterselva/Antholz 181 km (112.5 mi) Mountain stage 18 May 30, 7 a.m. Valdaora/Olang — Santa Maria Di Sala 222 km (138 mi) Flat stage 19 May 31, 7:55 a.m. Treviso — San Martino Di Castrozza 151 km (93.8 mi) Mountain stage 20 June 1, 6:05 a.m. Feltre — Croce D'aune-Monte Avena 194 km (120.5 mi) Mountain stage 21 June 2, 8:40 a.m. Verona — Verona 17 km (10.6 mi) Individual Time Tial Giro d'Italia facts — The 2019 Giro d’Italia will be the 102nd running of the race. 15 of the last 22 editions have crowned an Italian rider, including Vincenzo Nibali in 2013 and 2016. — The Giro d’Italia’s last five winners have been from five different nationalities: Nairo Quintana in 2014 (Colombia), Alberto Contador in 2015 (Spain), Vincenzo Nibali in 2016 (Italy), Tom Dumoulin in 2017 (Netherlands) and Chris Froome in 2018 (United Kingdom). — The last time Bologna hosted the Big Start of the Giro was 25 years ago, in 1994, with Endrio Leoni picking up the first pink jersey of that edition. — Evgeni Beryin (1994) & Nairo Quintana (2014) are the only riders to have won the General Classification and the Young Rider Classification in the same year in the history of the Giro d’Italia. — The last rider to win the Giro D’Italia and pick up more than two stage victories along the way was Ivan Basso in 2006 (3 stage wins). — In 2018 Chris Froome became the first British winner of the Giro and the first rider to win both the General Classification and the Mountain Classification in the same year since Marco Pantani in 1998. — The late Michele Scarponi was the last rider to win both the General & Points classifications at the Giro, back in 2011; this was also the last time a rider won the race riding for a team registered in Italy (Lampre-ISD). — Three of the last four winners of the Points Classification at the Giro have been Italian riders: Giacomo Nizzolo in 2015 & 2016, Elia Viviani in 2018. — Ryder Hesjedal won the Giro in 2012, finishing only 16 seconds ahead of Joaquim Rodriguez, the smallest margin for a winner since 1974. Five of the last eight editions, including the last three have been decided by a margin of less than a minute. — Fausto Coppi (1940) is the youngest ever rider to win the Giro d’Italia at 20 years & 8 months, whereas Fiorenzo Magni (1955) is the oldest at 34 years & 6 months. — Simon Yates will take part in his second Giro, after last year’s edition when he finished 21st despite wearing the pink jersey for 13 stages. He is aiming to become the third rider in the 21st Century to win La Vuelta and the following Giro after Alberto Contador (Vuelta 2014 & Giro 2015) and Chris Froome (Vuelta 2017 & Giro 2018). — Primož Roglič will take part in his second Giro d’Italia, after 2016 when he finished 58th in what was his first Grand Tour. He has already won a road stage race in Italy in 2019, finishing 1st in the general classification of Tirenno-Adriatico — Ricardo Carapaz finished 4th last year in his first Giro d’Italia and the 2nd best young rider. He also won stage 8 last year, his only win in a Grand Tour. — Miguel Angel Lopez finished in third place in the two Grand Tours he entered in 2018 (Giro & Vuelta), and won the young rider classification in the Giro d’Italia 2018. He has already won a stage race in 2019, the Volta a Catalunya. — Rafal Majka will return to the Giro d’Italia for the first time since 2016. He has finished in the Top 10 in each of his previous three appearances in the Giro (7th in 2013, 6th in 2014, 5th in 2016) while only finishing once in the Top 10 during his 11 appearances in the other two Grand Tours (3rd Vuelta 2015). — Davide Formolo will take part in his 5th Giro d’Italia in a row. He finished 31st in 2015 & 2016 then finished 10th in both 2017 & 2018. He hasn’t won a stage at the Giro since stage 4 at La Spezia in 2015. — Esteban Chaves will take part in his 4th Giro d’Italia. He finished second in the 2016 edition, his best result to date in a Grand Tour and has won one stage in each of his last two Giros. — Egan Bernal will take part in his first Giro d’Italia this year. He has finished in the Top 5 in each of the three stage races he has entered in 2019 (4th Tour of Colombia, 1st Paris-Nice & 3rd Volta a Catalunya) and became at 22 years-old the youngest rider to win Paris-Nice in the last 80 years. — Tom Dumoulin has finished in the Top 2 in his last three Grand Tours, including two at the Giro d’Italia (1st in 2017 & 2nd in 2018).<doc-sep>Pascal Ackermann takes the pressure off Pascal Ackermann wins stage two of the Giro d'Italia 2019 (Luk Benies/AFP/Getty Images) (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images) Bora-Hansgrohe's strength in depth of sprinting talent could be considered a blessing and a curse, with their roster including Peter Sagan, Sam Bennett and Pascal Ackermann, meaning team selectors have a headache every time a race comes around. There was a lot of talk pre-race about Sam Bennett, who won three stages at last year's Giro and has taken six victories so far in 2019, being omitted from the line-up in favour of the German champion. Bennett even went as far as to say it has made him consider his future with the team. What better way, then, to quieten any critics or dampen any nerves and team politics by winning at the first opportunity. Ackermann kicked out on his own in the finish, showing great strength to take his first ever Grand Tour stage win in what is also his first ever Grand Tour stage. There's not much to choose from between the sprinters Elia Viviani at the Giro d'Italia 2019 (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) Much was made about the quality of sprinting talent that would be on offer at the 2019 Giro, and one name that probably wasn't mentioned in the same breath as Elia Viviani, Fernando Gaviria and Caleb Ewan was Pascal Ackermann. Viviani was probably the only one who looked like he had the legs to challenge Ackermann in the sprint today, but chose the wrong wheel, leaping across from Ewan to the German too late to change the outcome. Caleb Ewan, who is riding his first Grand Tour for his new Lotto-Soudal team, was also handicapped by having to lead out the sprint. Those factors aside, the sprint looked fairly even, and you would expect a number of sprinters to share the spoils over the coming three weeks. It would be a surprise if one sprinter dominated the flat stages in the race. The first of many long days for Jumbo-Visma Jumbo-Visma on stage two of the Giro d'Italia 2019 (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) A number of teams who have GC hopefuls shared the work at the front of the peloton today, but with Primož Roglič in the pink jersey Jumbo-Visma offered up a number of riders to pull the bunch along the 205km of flat road. Unless one of his rivals should launch a big attack over the coming days, or the Slovenian's form fall apart completely, the Dutch team could have a long couple of weeks on their hands. Not only will Jumbo-Visma be expected to set the pace up the climbs in the opening week of racing, Roglič will have to perform the race leader responsibilities of daily press conferences and doping control. All of this will take its toll in return for just a slender 19-second lead over Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott). Movistar's strength severely dented after crash Stage two of the Giro d'Italia 2019 (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) Movistar team leader Mikel Landa got off to a disastrous Giro 2019 campaign on stage one, finishing his time trial 1-07 down on Roglič, and 30 seconds behind the other GC contenders. Stage two wasn't much better, as with 30km to race two of his key lieutenants Jasha Sütterlin and Héctor Carretero crashed, with Sütterlin looking like he landed face first, left dazed on the tarmac. Whilst Landa wasn't necessarily one of the favourites for the overall, these two setbacks are likely to cost the Spaniard any chance of challenging near the top of the overall classification. Ciccone stakes claim to blue jersey ambitions Giulio Ciccone during stage two of the Giro d'Italia 2019 (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) Guilio Ciccone took the king of the mountains jersey after being the quickest rider up the San Luca in the stage one time trial. After finding himself in the day's break on stage two, the 24-year-old Italian took the opportunity to consolidate his blue jersey, reaching the summit of both of the day's climbs first and extending a 15 point lead in the competition. Alongside Bauke Mollema's GC ambitions, Trek-Segafredo now have another classification to aim for.<doc-sep>
Primož Roglič in command Primoz Roglic on stage one of the Giro d'Italia 2019 (Pierre Teyssot/Action Plus via Getty Images) (Image credit: Action Plus via Getty Images) Over the course of just 8.2km Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) managed to land a significant blow to all the other GC contenders. He gained a significant 28 seconds over both Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) and Miguel Ángel López (Astana) and 23 seconds over Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida, whilst even the rider who came closest to matching his time, Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), was 19 seconds adrift. It was a devastating ride by the Slovenian, who currently looks like the man to beat at this year's Giro. We knew going into the race that he was the in-form rider, having already won the Tour de Romandie, Tirreno-Adriatico and the UAE Tour over the past few months, and today he confirmed just what a threat he is. The question now is will he be able to maintain such high standards? Gaining so much time over his rivals is surely a bonus, but taking the pink jersey so early in the race might put undue pressure on his Jumbo-Visma team. They will be happy to let breakaways go and for another (non-GC rider) to take over the jersey in the coming days, but his lead is already large enough for that not to be a straightforward task. Yates, Nibali and López best of the rest Simon Yates on stage one of the Giro d'Italia 2019 (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) As the only rider to finish within 20 seconds of Roglic, Simon Yates looks like he’s again in great shape for the Giro, and has retained his pre-race favourite as one of the major favourites. Heading into the race, both Vincenzo Nibali and Miguel Ángel López were being discussed as just below Yates and the top tier of favourites, but their chances look enhanced by their their performances today. Neither would usually expect to gain an advantage against the clock, with López even claiming that he’d be happy to lose two minutes across all three of the race’s time trials, so both will be delighted to finish third and fourth on the stage. López has impressed during the early season, having won the overalls at the Tour of Colombia and Vuelta a Catalunya, and has apparently brought that form to the Giro, while experienced campaigner Nibali appears to be peaking just in time for the Giro. There is of course a long way to go, with most key GC mountain stages reserved for the final week, but the early signs are that Yates, Nibali and López all have the legs to compete for pink. A topsy turvy time trial Tom Dumoulin on stage one of the Giro d'Italia 2019 (Luk Benies/AFP/Getty Images) (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images) Most bike races are slow burners, characterised by slow starts and a burst of activity towards the end of the day. Even time trials tend to follow a similar pattern, with the favourites generally preferring to line-up later in the day to give them a chance to suss out the course from observing other riders’ performances. Today, however, was exactly the opposite, with forecasts of an impending storm prompting the big names to set off as early as possible. Tom Dumoulin was the first rider out of the start gate, and most of the other GC candidates followed in quick succession, ensuring a frantic opening half hour of action. Then followed a lull as the race’s domestiques took to the course, before it was finally the turn of Simon Yates, who was the only GC contender to choose to ride late in the day. Thankfully for him the expected storm never came, and he was able to post a very competitive time, leaving Roglič unsure of the stage victory until the very end. Parcours favoured climbers over specialists Bob Jungels riding stage one of the Giro d'Italia 2019 (Pierre Teyssot/Action Plus via Getty Images) (Image credit: Action Plus via Getty Images) Despite constituting less than a quarter of the course, the 2km San Luca climb at the end proved to be crucial, with climbers generally out-performing time trial specialists. The likes of recently crowned Hour Record holder Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Soudal) and former Giro stage winner Jos van Emden (Jumbo-Visma) were nowhere near in contention for the stage, while GC riders like Tom Dumoulin and Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) were unable to make the kind of gains they’d usually expect to.