Mauro Gianetti and the UAE Team Emirates can be satisfied with their first step this Saturday. The team of Tadej Pogacar managed his stage rather well, testing the form of his rivals in the Côte de Barbotto. The Slovenian’s teammates kept pace at the head of the peloton for most of the day and did not want to continue to tire after the Barbotto Hill, leaving other teams to manage the chase. Tadej Pogacar came to sprint but failed at the gates of the bonuses, in 4th place, behind Wout Van Aert (Visma| Lease a Bike).
Video – Mauro Gianetti at the finish of this 1st stage
“I’m happy for Romain Bardet”
“It was a difficult 1st stage, complicated by the heat, with a lot of climbs. At the finish, all the runners were tired, because they did not have the opportunity to train in such heat during the spring“said Mauro Gianettigeneral manager ofUAE Team Emiratesat the microphone of Cyclism’-“We knew that there were a lot of people on the Barbotto climb, the Marco Pantani climb, so we went in front to avoid possible breakages, it was more of a safety measure.”
“Tadej had a good day, he even surprised us by sprinting. We didn’t expect it… but it’s Tadej”explain Gianettiwho also spoke about the triumph of Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL). “It’s nice, congratulations to him, to Van den Broek and to the team. They played well and they were very strong. I’m happy for him, he deserves it, he’s a great rider, who has had a very good career”he concludes.
