Primoz Roglic "not in a lot of pain, but there is still discomfort" - Koen Bouwman

Primoz Roglic has suffered a few crashes already in this Giro d'Italia, a recent one has required him to have some stitches. It's not being an easy race for the Slovenian but for the time being he sits in the ideal position in the overall classification after 13 stages.

"Maybe it didn't look very hard on TV, but Primoz really fell hard on his hip. He's not in a lot of pain, but there is still discomfort. He was just happy to come out with the best GC riders yesterday," Koen Bouwman told Eurosport after the tough mountain stage last afternoon in the Alps. The Dutchman himself suffered some mechanicals late in the day but managed to be there for the team - which was in numbers all the way into the end of the stage.

Jumbo had the numbers but decided to race conservatively in what was the first mountain stage to make at least some differences, Roglic and Sepp Kuss arrived in the main GC group together with Geraint Thomas. Bouwman argues that his leader did not intend on taking over the race lead for the psychological race that is ongoing, but the team have shown themselves to at the time being be at the level or even above INEOS Grenadiers.

“We are going to take it day by day when we might go on the offensive. The fact that Roglic is not the leader mainly gives him more peace. He is faster at the hotel and can get a massage sooner. This is certainly not a disadvantage, but the pink is also just very nice to have," Bouwman concluded.