Teammates save Bardet from bigger drama: "If this was our bad day of the race..."

Many people would have included him in their Giro fantasy team, as Romain Bardet arrived at the Tour of Italy with superb form. On day one, the Frenchman from DSM-Firmenich PostNL was indeed the main victim of a tough finale. Bardet lost just under a minute to Tadej Pogacar and ten seconds less to the rest of the peloton. Their expressions were visibly filled with disappointment afterward.

Bardet came to the Giro aiming for a good GC ranking, but as the finale began in the first stage. His team was immediately aware something was amiss. "He told us over the bike radio that he was feeling off," said team director Matt Winston to IDLProCycling.com. "Whether there's more to it? It's too soon to tell."

Ultimately, Bardet also limited the damage since he was dropped 23 kilometers from the finish and lost only 57 seconds during that phase. "Still, you don't want to start day one and immediately lose time. But cyclists are human; everyone has their good and bad days. Romain clearly had a bad day, but fortunately, the Giro is still long, and we can strike back and make up time. We'll sleep on it and see what we'll do," Winston remains combative.

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Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL hopes that Bardet has had his share

In a press release from the team, the focus is mainly on cleverly limiting of the damage. "When Romain signaled about two kilometers from the summit that he was having a tough moment, Chris Hamilton and Kevin Vermaerke immediately dropped back to him and began to set tempo. Coming over the summit they were roughly one minute and 30 seconds behind the reduced peloton."

That became 57 seconds at the finish, 'thanks to a strong and resilient team effort,' it is said. "Unfortunately, it wasn't a perfect day for us," analyzes Hamilton. "Kevin and I were there to help him in the finale and managed to help bring him back a bit before he then went for it on the last climb. From now on, we're back in the fight."

Winston closes the press release on the same note. "If we can go now in a forward trajectory and not lose more time then that will be a good thing."