"They're going to win a couple of stages now" - UAE Team Emirates - XRG tipped to turn stage-hunters after disaster Giro start

Disaster struck UAE Team Emirates - XRG's Giro d'Italia last weekend in just the second stage of racing after a mass crash. When the dust settled and the peloton rolled out to Sofia on Sunday afternoon, the team were still counting the cost with three riders out of the race and their general classification hopes up in smoke.

The team came with bullish GC ambitions in Adam Yates backed by Jay Vine and Marc Soler. However, Yates couldn't start the third stage while Vine and Soler didn't continue after their falls. With three key riders lost and just five on their way to Italy on Tuesday, the team will be looking elsewhere for success.

With GC hopes in the rear view and a young team of Jan Christen, Mikkel Bjerg, Jhonatan Narváez, Igor Arrieta and António Morgado, domestiques have been tipped to turn stage-hunters after quietly getting through the third stage and into the rest day on Monday.

Decathlon CMA CGM's Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen, currently riding the Giro, thinks that UAE Team Emirates XRG have more than enough firepower to turn their attention to breakaways and chalk up some stage wins.

“They’ll manage and they’ll find a way,” he said, speaking on the Domestique Hotseat on the first rest day. “For sure they’re going to win a couple stages now. Even still without a GC in mind, they’re probably going to race like hell on some of these breakaway stages.”

“I had a chat with Mikkel [Bjerg], fellow countryman. He’s quite down about it," Pedersen added. "I talked with him on the third stage and I said, are you going on the breakaway? He said no, they were told just to make it to Italy now.”

Tuesday marks the first kilometers on Italian soil of this Giro d'Italia, and a new beginning for UAE Team Emirates XRG's race. Although slated by many to be a possible sprint finish, a tough climb topping with 43 kilometers to go could entice teams to make it difficult for the sprinters.

Pedersen and Decathlon CMA CGM have their sights set on a first stage win with Tobias Lund Andresen after a close second in the first stage. Pedersen hopes that his climbing ability can give him a better chance on a more demanding fourth stage.

“We know Toby has the speed, we know Toby has the fatigue resistance to be there in the sprint also on a hard day.” He added: “It will be quite interesting to see what happens on the climb tomorrow. It can go both ways.”

Pedersen also pondered the GC landscape for the coming days, noting that XDS Astana will be desparate to hold onto Guillermo Thomas Silva's Maglia Rosa for as long as possible, and are likely to embrace the challenge of controlling the race.

“With Astana in the lead they will do everything to hold on to the GC lead because it’s not for sure they will get the leader’s jersey back if they lose it.”