"You always hope for a good start, not a crash": Marcel Kittel looks ahead to next opportunities as Dylan Groenewegen is cleared to start

It's probably unnecessary to ascertain how very excited were the Unibet Rose Rockets riders heading into - what applies to many on personal level as well - the team's Grand Tour debut this Friday. Especially with an in-form sprinter Dylan Groenewegen as the core of their nomination. But, as it often goes, from the greatest heights is hardest the fall. Both figuratively and literally.

The opening stage on Bulgarian coastline was always going to lead to a bunch sprint. And with over 20 riders interested to participate in the battle for victory and the glory of pink jersey, chaos was inevitable. Yet all seemed good until the peloton arrived into the narrow final stretch. One contact between riders of Uno-X and Decathlon, and the entire road was plugged with bodies and bicycles. Including Dylan Groenewegen who has taken a rather nasty crash.

Speculations regarding his health state did not take long to form up, but fortunately good news arrived from the Rockets hotel - Dylan will be able to continue. And with him lives the dream of stage victory for Bas Tietema's formation.

"No urgent problems were identified during the medical checks," according to the Rockets. The Dutch sprinter sustained no abrasions or anything similar either at the crash.

The Rockets did the pace-setting all day with Hartthijs de Vries in what turned out to be a very easy stage. "It was super easy all day. We thought we would push a bit harder, but that didn't happen. We knew this beforehand too, that this can happen on the first day of a Grand Tour," late nominee for the Giro, Matyas Kopecky, told In de Leiderstrui about the day.

Sprint coach Marcel Kittel and co had marked the 3.6-kilometer mark, where the team was positioned well at the front. "We were at the crucial point 3.6 kilometers from the finish, but eventually fell a bit behind and were therefore involved in that crash."

"In the last 3.5 kilometers, we had to be at the front because the road was getting narrower and narrower," states Kopecky. "Things didn't go entirely well for us then either. Niklas (Larsen, ed.) did a good turn at the front, after which it was up to me. Kubis passed me on the bridge, which was actually way too early. Because I still had the chance. Then it was a bit chaotic because we swapped positions again."

Meanwhile, Groenewegen was no longer in the slipstream either. "I didn't see much of that, because I can't look back," says Kopecky.

"We need to look into that a bit, I think. And learn from that after the analysis," adds Kittel.

Kittel does not want to use the fact that the team leader crashed precisely in that narrower section as an excuse. "It was still 5 meters wide. Of course, 6 meters or 8 meters would be even better, but even then crashes have already happened. It has also been a very easy day, and there are many other things you could start a discussion about, as you could also see in the Scheldeprijs."

"I look at things other than what the final looks like," said the experienced sprinter. "The first of 21 days is over. Of course, you always hope for a good start and not a crash, but that is simply what happened today. We were focused, and I have no doubt that the guys really wanted it. We need to pick up the pace again," Kittel concluded.