Bahrain Victorious saw team leaders Antonio Tiberi and Damiano Caruso perform well in the first stage of the Giro d'Italia, but they also faced setbacks. The team's Norwegian-Japanese climber Torstein Traeen was involved in a crash that also included Robert Gesink, and things do not look good for him, according to the team.
The first stage of the Giro d'Italia was won on Saturday by Jhonatan Narv谩ez, who held off top favorite Tadej Pogacar in Turin. Bahrain Victorious leader Antonio Tiberi finished eighth among the other favorites, in the same group as Damiano Caruso. The experienced Sicilian had already made a move during the stage, earning some bonification seconds.
Team director Gorazd Stangelj was of course pleased afterwards. "We can be really happy. I even thought about the pink jersey for a moment, but then later the race developed a bit differently. There was not really hard racing and some other riders did not want to cooperate, which allowed the peloton to catch up with Damiano鈥檚 breakaway."
Bahrain Victorious team director on climber Traeen's crash
"The guys did a great job, and we almost stayed out of all trouble. Unfortunately, there was the nasty crash of Torstein. Hopefully, he can continue the race, but it was really a bad fall and his knee is looking bad." Traeen, along with Robert Gesink and Domenico Pozzovivo, crashed in the final phase and eventually finished among the very last in the race.
"We will decide later whether he can continue, but all in all, we can be satisfied with the form and the style of racing. Hopefully, we can continue in this manner on Sunday," the team director from Slovenia says, already looking ahead to the stage towards Oropa.
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