Jan Christen takes the lead in Uruguay's surprise victory

The 24-year-old from the Astana team also took the leader's jersey after his success in the sprint in Veliko Tarnovo.

The 24-year-old Guillermo Silva is the first Uruguayan ever to take part in the Giro, and immediately takes the most important victory of his career in stage 2. He won the bunch sprint ahead of the German Florian Stock from the Swiss Tudor team and Giulio Ciccone. The previous overall leader and winner of stage 1, Paul Magnier, was unable to keep up on the final climb of the day and lost over two minutes on the best riders.

It was a completely different story for Swiss rider Jan Christen, who, together with top favorite Jonas Vingegaard, Giulio Pellizzari and Lennert van Eetvelt, was in the lead until 300 meters before the finish, but was finally caught by the approaching peloton.

Just like the stage on Friday, the 221-kilometre stage 2 was also marked by a mass crash. The race had to be briefly neutralized 23 kilometers before the finish because various riders required medical attention. Adam Yates, who was one of the favorites, was able to continue after his crash, but arrived in Veliko Tarnovo over 13 minutes behind.

Stage 3 will also take place in Bulgaria on Sunday. From Plovdiv, the route covers 175 kilometers to the capital Sofia.