'A typical first sh*tty stage of the Giro': Dumoulin and Bruyneel fume over dangerous stage 1 finale

After much anticipation, the Giro d'Italia finally got under way — but day one brought drama. The sprint for the pink jersey was rudely interrupted by a mass crash in the final kilometre, sending a number of the fast men tumbling to the tarmac. The finale was frantic — but how much of the blame lies with the organisation and the course? Opinion is divided.

A few kilometres from the finish, things very nearly went wrong already, but everyone managed to stay upright. Once in the centre of Burgas, however, it did go wrong. Erlend Blikra (Uno-X) was the first to hit the ground, triggering a chain reaction that spread right across the width of the road. The result was that only around ten riders were left to sprint for the win, with Paul Magnier emerging as the lucky man.

That was despite the fact that the day itself had been relatively calm — but therein lay the danger, as cycling analyst Jip van den Bos explained in her post-stage analysis for Eurosport. The race exploded in the finale. "It was just chaos — barriers narrowing the road, constant bends to the left... In the final 500 metres it narrows again, and in my view that's what caused the crash."

Tom Dumoulin offered a different take, though, laughing along. "It's just a typical first shitty stage of a Grand Tour." The course itself wasn't the issue, he argued. "Completely flat, very relaxed, two riders up the road in a breakaway... And then everyone arriving in the finale with way too much energy. Roads that were wide and essentially perfectly safe. When you insist on finishing in a town centre, of course it gets a bit narrower."

Johan Bruyneel sees it differently, however. "You're 99.9 per cent certain it's going to be a mass sprint. And then suddenly that final kilometre becomes that narrow... That's not good. That's a totally wrong decision," the Belgian said on the THEMOVE podcast. "And from around 300, 400 metres out there were already barriers in place — but they were prehistoric crash barriers, sticking out into the road. I'm not saying that's what caused it, but in this day and age, that simply shouldn't be allowed."

Because while cycling moves fast, the roads stay the same. "Sprint speeds go well above 70 kilometres per hour. On top of that, everyone knows the course — everyone has done their reconnaissance. Everyone knows it's a bottleneck, which means nerves are running extremely high. You basically expect a crash, because there are too many people on too narrow a road."

The former team director therefore has little problem with the fact that Jonas Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike stayed well clear and rode near the back of the race. "It's not a bad strategy. There's a risk that you lose time if you're caught behind a crash. But you save so much energy by staying out of it — plus the energy from the stress. You can relax, and that's also saving energy, which is hugely important. But you can't do it every day."

Based on the course, it was the right call today — but we may yet see the Dutch team positioned further towards the front as the race develops. "They knew that if something was going to go wrong, it would happen in the final three kilometres, and that you'd receive the same time anyway. I'm not against it — especially on stage one — but they can't do it every day. They need to look at the course each time."