Robbie McEwen: "The race is very long, and that’s why Primoz Roglic is still very upbeat about his own chance"

The Giro d'Italia is still in it's first week. It is too early to speak of the race being decided however the possibility is naturally brought up. Robbie McEwen, frequent analyst of the race, argues that Primoz Roglic will likely be upbeat on his chances of success despite the early hit in the time-trial.

“We put it into context of yesterday’s time trial, barely 20 kilometres, 43 seconds is a big gap. But 43 seconds in the context of 3,500 km and 21 stages of racing, and the mountain stages to come, it’s a tiny gap," Robbie McEwen stated in The Breakaway show. “On the road on a climb, that gap translates to a few hundred metres. That’s just nothing, it’s not a lead where you’d say it’s all over, race for second. It’s a lot of damage on just 20km but the race is very long, and that’s why Primoz Roglic is still very upbeat about his own chances.”

The gaps on the opening day were a bit surprising despite the known talent of the Belgian. Although it may not cause too much stress in those eyeing pink, because of the sheer brutality of the final two weeks and the amount of time that can be lost there, it opens up questions on what the differences will be on the race's second time-trial.

“Anything can happen in a race, for me there will be a worry. There’s going to be another time trial and if Remco is anything like he was, he’s going to take a minute on a longer time trial. From history, seeing what we saw yesterday," McEwen argues.

“So if you take that, that’s an extra minute and 40, and in the mountains, we know Remco is good in the first two weeks. If you look at the Vuelta, in the first two weeks he was able to distance riders more and more, and if we go by that, he’s going to be able to take three minutes, three and a half minutes, if we go off a day of racing which is hard to do three and a half minutes is a lot," he concluded.