On the radar or under it: Who are the winners and losers of the Giro's opening weekend?

As the peloton makes its long Monday journey from Sofia to Catanzaro, we at IDL Pro Cycling have time to look back on the first three stages. From major crashes to surprise winners, this Giro has so far been unpredictability in its purest form. These are the winners and losers of the Bulgarian opening weekend.

With two stage wins from three and a lead of plus forty in the points classification, Paul Magnier and Soudal Quick-Step could not have asked for a better Giro start. Much had been expected of the young Frenchman during the spring, but injury and bad luck had prevented him from delivering.

Magnier had not been named among the absolute favourites for the flat bunch sprints, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Brilliant positioning in stage one saw him thread through the chaos of the massive crash.

In stage three, he was once again delivered perfectly by his team and came out on top against established sprint stars Jonathan Milan and Dylan Groenewegen. One can only hope his legs in Italy are as good as they were in Bulgaria, where he stood as one of the undisputed stars of the opening act.

For the UAE squad, this was a weekend to forget as quickly as possible. Stage two turned into an absolute catastrophe for the team, who were at the heart of where the damage was done in the massive crash. Climbers Marc Soler and Jay Vine were forced to abandon immediately after both hit the barriers hard.

Team leader Adam Yates also went down, but initially rode on, albeit with blood streaming down his face. The Briton ultimately decided not to start the following day, leaving the team with just five riders heading to Italy. With their GC leader gone, they may well spend the rest of the race on the attack, but that is not the plan anyone at UAE had in mind beforehand.

The Giro peloton is packed with top sprinters — Milan, Groenewegen, Magnier, Tobias Lund Andresen, Arnaud De Lie and Kaden Groves among them. Yet alongside Milan and Magnier, only one rider finished in the top five in both sprint stages: Madis Mihkels. The Estonian champion had to handle most of his positioning work alone, but did so with barely a moment's difficulty.

In stage one, the EF Education-EasyPost rider came home fifth after navigating the worst of the crash, but it was stage three where he really showed his sprint legs. Beautifully placed, Mihkels took fourth place on the day in Sofia. His consistent points haul has him fourth in the points classification — a real statement in a field this strong.

Derek Gee-West's Giro build-up had already been difficult, but he headed to the start in Bulgaria with his ambitions intact. However, he too was caught up in the stage two crash, immediately losing well over a minute. Not the beginning the ambitious Canadian had been hoping for.

It is also not the first time this particular scenario has played out for the Lidl-Trek leader. In 2025, he also dropped close to a minute in the opening weekend in Albania. He can at least take comfort in the fact that he recovered from that setback to finish fourth overall. Cold comfort in the moment, of course — but comfort nonetheless.

Anyone who had Paul Magnier and Guillermo Thomas Silva in their fantasy team made out well from stage two. The Uruguayan has been the Giro's biggest surprise so far — and for a team like XDS Astana, a stage win of that quality is a genuine windfall. It was not their only noteworthy result either.

Less spectacular than a win, but still worth flagging: Christian Scaroni's fourth place on stage two. Then there was Matteo Malucelli's fifth place in stage three — a fine result especially considering that virtually the entire team was caught up in the stage one crash in Burgas. XDS Astana have bounced back in remarkable fashion.

He may not be able to help it — having fallen ill, like many others, in the build-up to the Giro — but Arnaud De Lie has had a difficult time in Bulgaria. It started before the opening stage had even been ridden: De Lie missed the team presentation on the Wednesday, which tells you everything about how unwell he was at that point.

Things did not improve much in the days that followed. Twenty-first in the opening stage was just about acceptable, but as soon as the road tilted upwards on day two, De Lie had to let the group go. Bulgaria has been an exercise in survival — frustrating for a rider of his calibre. A fit De Lie would already have had at least two genuine shots at a stage win. That makes it all the more unfortunate that he had already indicated he would be leaving the race early.