"This was impossible" - Complete disaster for Antonio Tiberi in Oropa as Bahrain - Victorious leader suffers puncture and mechanical

Antonio Tiberi was one of the main podium contenders ahead of the Giro d'Italia but has lost meaningful time up the Santuario di Oropa. He was not fully to blame however, as he suffered two mishaps that completely took him out of the peloton during the descent.

"I had a lot of bad luck. I was in good position when the final climb started to become steeper and the pace went up," Tiberi explained in words shared by Bahraian - Victorious. "But I had a flat tire and then another mechanical problem with my new bike. I did my best to come back and limit the loss, but this was impossible. I lost some time. "

It was not possible to recover after such situation. Tiberi ended up shedding 2:24 minutes to Tadej Pogacar at the finish line but perhaps most importantly for him, 1:57 minutes over his most direct rivals led to the finish by Daniel Martínez.

It is a tough blow for the Italian rider this early in the race. He now sits 26th in the overall classification only after two days of racing; whilst his teammate Damiano Caruso also struggled to match the best on the day and descended to 16th spot.