The finale of the second stage of the Giro d'Italia passed through Porto Empedocle, the home town of crime novelist Andrea Camilleri.

It had been 452 days since three-time world champion Peter Sagan last tasted victory. The coronavirus pandemic has clearly lengthened the length of that daylight, but the mystery is further deepened by the fact that Sagan has nearly caught up to the lead on numerous occasions.

Since winning the fifth stage of last year's Tour de France in Colmar, Sagan has finished in the top five more than 20 times. He finished fifth in the Late Attack at the Yorkshire World Championships, fourth in Milan-San Remo in August, and third on the Champs-Elysées at the Tour de France.

Sunday's finale in Agrigento felt like a microcosm of Sagan's career over the past year or so.

The uphill finish through the scorching temple valley was not for sprinters, but Sagan endured the pace and gradient better than anyone else, jumping over Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) and Mikel Honoré (Deceuninck-Quickstep) with just over 200 meters to go.

But when Ulissi picked up the pace again, Sagan was unable to keep up with him and had to settle for second place and the consolation of the mountains jersey.

"Today was a pretty good stage for me, but Diego was stronger and made a good attack. I tried to catch the first two, but by the time I did it was already too late. It was already the last 200 meters. They started sprinting, and Diego ended up finishing four bike lengths ahead of me.

Jan Valach, director sportif of Bora-Hansgrohe, was steering the Slovak team. Even Michael Matthews, who had finished seventh in last week's tough Imola World Championships, couldn't manage a fourth-place finish, five seconds behind Sagan.

"This climb was not for sprinters, but he had good legs. The sprint had already started, but Peter caught up to him on the last corner. It was great to see him at the front.

The hurdles were set very high from the start for Sagan, who appeared in the peloton in the spring of 2010. For example, Oleg Tinkov threatened to cut his salary in 2015, months before he won his first world title, and questions were raised about his lack of wins in the spring of 2018, but Sagan responded with wins in Ghent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix.

"Every rider has periods in their career when they do everything right and luck doesn't come their way. 'You just have to wait and see. If you keep working, everything that is supposed to come eventually will come. We are calm. Today he showed that he is very strong. He trusts us and we trust him."

In last month's Tour de France, Sagan finished in the top five six times but always lacked the top-end speed needed to beat the likes of Sam Bennett and Caleb Yuan. The sprint field at the Giro was formidable, with the likes of Fernando Gaviria and Arnaud Demare in good form. Running two Grand Tours in eight weeks is a daunting challenge, but Valach expressed confidence that the amount of racing will help Sagan rather than slow him down.

"I don't want to think too far ahead, but Peter has always needed a hard race to get his best legs. Let's hope he can make the most of it at the Giro d'Italia."

Sagan's Giro debut was widely publicized last fall, but when the cycling calendar was reorganized in the wake of the coronavirus, it appeared that he and Beulah Hansgrohe would try to get out of their gentlemen's agreement with RCS Sport.

Instead, Sagan confirmed that he will forgo the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix to test Corsa Rosa as planned, which should give the Slovakian more opportunity to make his debut with a victory. He lost Maglia Azura on the summit of Mount Etna on Monday, but Maglia Ciclamino will surely be a focal point down the road.

"We've earned some points for the Ciclamino jersey, but tomorrow will be another hard stage.

"Certainly too hard tomorrow. We will find out in the next few days if a sprint with the sprinters is possible, or if a finish similar to today is possible."