Mathieu van der Poel: "Normally it won’t be possible to keep the jersey on the Etna"

Mathieu van der Poel has so far been without a doubt a standout figure in this edition of the Giro d'Italia, however tomorrow will be a challenge that is the complete opposite of what the riders have faced so far.

At the end of the third stage, the Alpecin-Fenix rider told reporters how he felt about the opening weekend: "Today for sure was a nice day, I enjoyed it, and I’m happy to be able to take the jersey to Italy as well. It was very special with lots of crowds."

After winning the opening stage, the Dutchman got himself in the lead of the race which he kept the following day after a storming time-trial. He admits however that tomorrow will be his last day in pink unless something unusual happens: “Normally it won’t be possible to keep the jersey on the Etna. I’ll see how it goes and how I feel, but I don’t know how far I can go," he said.

Despite having shown decent climbing performances in the best, the ascent to Etna will be around an hour long and it should be too large of an effort for the classics specialist to handle. Nevertheless, his form is good and it is certain that van der Poel will try to defend the lead as deep as possible into the ascent.

After getting a hefty lead in the opening two stages, it would appear as if the Alpecin-Fenix rider could target the points classification. However, his job yesterday consisted of assisting Jakub Mareczko in the final sprint, and didn't play a role in contention for the stage.

“I think we did a good lead out as a team, but Mareczko lost my wheel at a roundabout late on, I looked behind me but I couldn’t see him any more, and it didn’t make any sense for me to go on. It’s a pity he got boxed in but I could do a pretty good job," he said. The Italian sprinter finished in fifth place, and should be the team's option in the flat bunch sprints to follow.