Inside Visma | Lease a Bike after a chaotic day at the Giro — Vingegaard's attack and two riders down

Visma | Lease a Bike took their share of the blows handed out in stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia — but Jonas Vingegaard came through standing tall. Unlike Tim Rex and Wilco Kelderman, the Danish leader escaped the mass crash and ultimately showed he is in fine form. Sports director Marc Reef gave IDL Pro Cycling a helicopter view before addressing the press in Veliko Tarnovo.

The yellow-and-black squad had been well-positioned throughout the stage, but being at the front is no guarantee of safety when a crash erupts right there. "I didn't see it exactly, but it was simply unstoppable. They were going fast, the road was wet and it was a quick right-hand bend. They were down in an instant. The riders at the very front got through, but you can't have the whole team on the front row."

"Wilco and Tim were down and we need to see how they are," Reef added. Kelderman crossed the finish line heavily scraped up and still required a medical examination, while Rex was found near the press room — he had lost his way to the team bus after his doping control, but indicated he was physically relatively okay.

"It gave us a fright too," Reef said, taking us back to the moment 23 kilometres from the finish. "They went down at the front and over the radio we immediately heard that some of our guys were involved — but at the same time the communication came through that Jonas was not. You're relieved, but you're not really. We could see straight away it was alongside the barrier and thankfully Wilco and Tim were able to continue, but they still need to be checked over."

"We need to see how Wilco is doing and we can't say anything about that at this point," Reef acknowledged — though despite everything, he had modest cause for satisfaction. "That gives you a mixed feeling," he said. "But there is the other side of it: Davide Piganzoli is doing excellent work and Jonas Vingegaard is showing that he's been able to flip the switch and is in good shape."

Vingegaard drove the final climb at a ferocious pace, drilling it hard at the front. "From the point where racing resumed, Jonas was able to show that he's in great condition. We had discussed that option before the stage and of course it depends on how the situation unfolds — but Jonas was clearly feeling good. He wanted to go for it."

"What Davide did looked very good," Reef said, singling out his young Italian rider for special praise. "But in a sense we also knew that the whole team was ready for this Giro. You still have to make sure you actually deliver at the moment it counts, though — especially in the chaos there was today, with that restart."

"We knew that the last bend before the climb was going to be crucial, but we weren't perfectly positioned there and were spread out across the group," Reef admitted. "Still, Davide managed to push his way strongly to the front and Jonas joined him fairly quickly. I don't know what was said between them because the car was still some way back — but Jonas will have made the call to go."

Vingegaard ultimately finished in the same time as the other GC contenders, having taken Giulio Pellizzari and Lennert Van Eetvelt with him. Visma | Lease a Bike are one day closer to their goal for the Bulgarian opening — getting to Italy as safely as possible — but they've picked up a few extra bumps and bruises along the way. First up: a bus transfer of more than three hours from Veliko Tarnovo to Plovdiv, the start town for Sunday's stage 3.