"It's a great way to come back to the Giro" - Remco Evenepoel enjoys dominant ride to start off Giro d'Italia

Remco Evenepoel was very satisfied after winning the first stage of the Giro d'Italia with great solvency and taking the first maglia rosa.

"I'm very happy, it's the best result we can get on the first day, I'm very happy, I went as fast as possible and I think we were fast enough today," Evenepoel said in a post-race interview. "I said on the bus that I needed to do 21:30 to win and I ended up doing 21:18, so I stayed close to my prediction. I felt from the beginning that I had a good pace, with the same cadence, I'm very happy with what I did."

He was clear on what he had to do to win the stage and ended up doing even better than he predicted to his teammates before the opening stage of the Corsa Rosa. From the first intermediate point it seemed clear that he was heading towards a win, and in the final hilltop he further consolidated the differences.

He beat Filippo Ganna by 22 seconds, an uncontested stage win which already sees him in the lead of the race. "We're going to have to stay with the maglia rosa until stage four and we'll see how we can get rid of it, today is a day to enjoy, it's a great way to come back to the Giro," he continued.

As for his rivals he also delivered a meaningful hit, taking 43 seconds on Primoz Roglic more noticeably. "I'm not focused on the gap I have with him, what I wanted to do was to win the stage and we did it, so mission accomplished, the next one is to stay safe during the first stage and save as much energy as possible for the next time trial," he concluded.