"We will keep fighting" - Romain Bardet takes another hit as podium hopes fade in Oropa

Romain Bardet was strong at the Tour of the Alps and finished second at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Coming into the Giro d'Italia he was one of the few riders who could dare to hope being close to Tadej Pogacar; but after the Santuario di Oropa even fighting for the podium begins to feel like too much of an ask for the Frenchman.

“It was a tough day for me today. The guys looked after me well onto the climb and I just gave what I had until the line. I hope to recover and feel 100 percent over the next days again and improve from there for the rest of the race. We will keep fighting," Bardet said in a press release issued by Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL.

The mood is that of survival. Bardet lost ground early on stage 1 and was one of the worst affected GC contenders, and at Oropa he shed time once again. He was dropped when UAE Team Emirates began to push the pace halfway up the final climb and only finished 20th of the day. Into stage 3 he's 22nd in the fight for the pink jersey; 2:31 minutes down on Pogacar and 1:26 minutes down on Geraint Thomas and Daniel Martínez already. It is still early in the race, but Bardet's form is not a good sign as he will already go into the key stages with a meaningful disadvantage.

“We built a little bit on yesterday. We saw Romain was able to hold the leader’s group for longer today and bounce back a bit from yesterday," team DS Matt Winston added. "There is still a long way to go in this bike race so we will keep fighting and looking for our opportunities in those mountain and hill stages. In the next few days though we will focus on the sprint finales and look for our chances there.”