DSM-Firmenich PostNL DS doesn't give up on Romain Bardet just yet: "If he loses more time we will have to switch to stage victories"

Romain Bardet was – alongside Thymen Arensman – one of the defeated in the opening stage of Giro d'Italia. Not so long after cameras showed the Ineos rider struggling, we saw the Frenchman from Team dsm-Firmenich PostNL also drop out of the front group.

In the end, the French leader of the team lost nearly a minute to Tadej Pogacar and fifteen seconds less to the rest of the favorites. "On the climb, Romain gave us the message via the race radio that he was not feeling too well, that was the first what we heard from him," said sports director Matt Winston in a press release.

"Chris and Kevin had first positioned themselves at the front of the peloton to put Romain in position, but waited for him. This ensured that we were able to properly limit the damage. He had dropped quite far at one point, but our boys rode hard in the chase."

"Riders are human, it is normal that they have good and bad days. Today was a bad day, something you wouldn't hope to experience on opening day, but it is what it is. We still have three weeks to go and a lot of riding to be done. I think the rankings will be shaken up in the next three weeks. If we just make progress now and don't lose more time, then that's good. Otherwise we will have to switch to looking for stage victories."