"Our goal was to be closer on GC to him" - BORA disappointed but not defeated against Tadej Pogacar at Giro d'Italia

Daniel Martínez is, by all means, performing above expectations at the Giro d'Italia. However taking into consideration how well he has raced at times, BORA - hansgrohe is rightfully ambitious. Enrico Gasparotto, DS of the team at the race, talks about how the team is looking into how to surprise the race leader and is indeed thinking of the victory.

“Sitting second in the GC is the best we could achieve. Against Tadej Pogačar, it looks at the moment pretty difficult to do something, but we have to consider the fact that we did two top mountain finishes and in both of them we did second with Dani," Gasparotto said in words to GCN. "He’s been so solid until now and we’re here to support him in the next two weeks.”

Martínez has in the past finished high in the Giro, but due to his lack of consistency over the past couple years it was hard to see him as a true contender for the podium. Over the opening week of the race, he has been spotless and sits second, sandwiched between Pogacar and Geraint Thomas within the podium.

“Pogačar after this Giro will also do the Tour de France, so we expected that he wanted to kill the Giro in the first week and then control on the second and third week. It’s nothing new, and our dream, our goal was to be closer on GC to him, but it’s still a long way to Rome," Gasparotto adds.

However, despite being almost three minutes behind in a week where it can even be argued that on most days there were expectations of bigger losses, BORA still think of pink: “We have to be as passionate as possible. We have to be ready if it happens, to see Tadej maybe suffering or struggling one day, we should be there to use the opportunity.”

This is however despite a lineup that has already lost Florian Lipowitz, who was going to be the most important rider in the mountains for the Colombian: “We’re losing a little bit of our potential in the high mountains for sure compared to Ineos, AG2R or UAE, so we have to be creative to find a way to support Dani as far as possible on some crucial finals that are coming in the next week.”

Max Schachmann, now a key domestique for Martínez, admits that the team will try but are aware of the difficult situation they face if they want to dream of a Giro win: “It’s going to be very hard to attack Tadej, even if we’re going to have an alliance, because he’s such a versatile rider."