I read somewhere in a pre-Giro interview that Contador was saying he doesn't want the (pink) jersey too soon. He only needs to have it the last day.
Still... it's the 2nd stage (in-line) and it's the 2nd stage that Tinkof is making a very strong pace at the front of the peloton.
Can't see what's the difference is between riding like this (to protect your leader) with or without him wearing the Pink Jersey
With this big group (and almost all teams present, with even 2 OGE-riders), one would expect that the escape is going to make it, but I guess the presence of Chaves, Nieve ( perhaps Ulissi, Fernandez and/or Zardini) is too dangerous (in the heads of the Tinkof team) to allow to have too much leeway.
The guy from Bardiani (Chirico) is riding his butt off but the peloton seems to be setting a hard pace as well, so no idea what the difference is currently (it's not being shown on tv) but I have the feeling it's not a lot