Richard Carapaz cautious ahead of arrival to the mountains: "We have to confront some much more difficult days"

INEOS Grenadiers have got a long-term plan in the Giro d'Italia, and in the opening weekend in Hungary both Richard Carapaz, Pavel Sivakov and Richie Porte remained safe and in contention for the overall classification.

“Yesterday was a good balance for us, I believe there are already some considerable differences, but we have to remember we’ve only raced two days. We have to take the race day by day and the whole Giro is still ahead of us," the Ecuadorian said at the start of stage three. 

Having finished 28 seconds down on Simon Yates, Carapaz sustained larger losses than expected towards the Briton - despite having put on a ride of an expected level. The plan doesn't change however towards the coming weeks as Carapaz looks in the bigger picture: “The team comes with the idea to fight for the GC, and not hunt for stages. We have to get through these flat stages, to avoid crashes or whatever the race might present us.”

“You have to be careful every day in the Giro. Things went pretty well according to our plan in the time trial, and now we have to confront some much more difficult days," he concluded. Tomorrow will see the peloton riding up the slopes of Mount Etna, in what is set to be the first major overall classification challenge of the race.