UAE manager Gianetti: "Tadej had a good day, he even surprised us by sprinting"

UAE Team Emirates had the plan to attack stage 1 but left it when Juan Ayuso looked to be struggling. The team then rode conservatively to the finale but Tadej Pogacar still went to sprint in search of bonus seconds, much to the surprise of team manager Mauro Gianetti.

"It was a difficult first stage, complicated by the heat, with a lot of climbs. At the finish, all the riders were tired, because they did not have the opportunity to train in such heat during the spring", Gianetti told Cyclism'Actu. "We knew there were a lot of people on the Barbotto climb, the Marco Pantani climb, so we moved to the front to avoid possible splits, it was more of a safety measure," he says as the reason for the work UAE did to thin down the peloton to around 50 riders; dropping riders such as David Gaudu, Lenny Martínez and Michael Matthews.

Eventually the team slowed down and let Team Visma | Lease a Bike take over. The two riders that led the race eventually raced for the win, whilst in the peloton Pogacar was second in the sprint only behind Wout van Aert. "Tadej had a good day, he even surprised us by sprinting. We didn't expect it... but it's Tadej," he laughs. UAE will be on the eyes of many once again today on stage 2 as it is expected that Pogacar will be attacking the climb to the Madona di San Luca, where he can make differences to his rivals, specially Jonas Vingegaard whose form is still rather unknown.

Gianetti commented also on the victory of veteran Romain Bardet: "It's nice, congratulations to him, to Van den Broek and to the team. They played well and they were very strong. I'm happy for him, he deserves it, he's a great rider, who has had a very good career."