Final climb "maybe a bit easier than I thought it would be" says Caleb Ewan

Caleb Ewan is the sole leader of Lotto Soudal coming into the Giro d'Italia, with the goal of obtaining stage wins in the bunch sprints. Although today's opening stage doesn't fully suits the characteristics of the fast men, it would not be unexpected to see the 'pocket rocket' fighting for the win.

“The goal before the start of a Grand Tour is always to win as many stages as possible. But with guys like Cavendish, Demare, Gaviria and Nizzolo at the start it’s a fierce field of competitors. And I am obviously forgetting some more names. So it definitely won’t be easy to win a stage but the battles will be entertaining to watch, that’s for sure," Ewan said in a pre-race press release. 

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Arnaud Démare dreaming of a pink jersey tonight: "I have already won similar stages"

The Australian has gotten several stage wins already this year, and is coming to the Giro with the ambitions of expanding his tally of five wins since his debut back in 2016. Today's opening hilltop finish in Visegrád is a day that is widely touted as one that suits Ewan. It may be too hard of an ascent, however he's shown in the past to be able to resist these on his best day, and would in that scenario be close to unbeatable in a sprint.

Ewan was cautious about his chances of pulling on the pink jersey: “We did a recon of the finishing climb. It’s pretty difficult but maybe a bit easier than I thought it would be. Still, it remains five kilometres of climbing. In any case, I have nothing to lose and will do everything I can."

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Mathieu van der Poel: Winning first stage "will not be easy"

"I guess the pure sprinters won’t contest the stage win but a guy like me that sometimes climbs well can survive but it’ll definitely be difficult. I wouldn’t say it’s a golden opportunity for me to seize the maglia rosa because normally, the climb is probably too hard for me," he said.

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