So far, so very good: Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team captain Jan Tratnik had nothing but positive words for both his squad and his leader Primož Roglič’s performance in the opening three stages at the Giro d’Italia, saying, ‘Primož is in the perfect position.’
Roglič is currently lying second overall, having led for a day after a superb time trial where he distanced his rivals, but now without the pressure or post-stage duties thanks to Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) moving back into the overall lead.
The Slovenian star showed he was alert as the race moved into Italy on stage 4, in the same way he was during the opening three days in Albania, and he snatched a two-second time bonus at a hot spot sprint at Ostuni, staying out of trouble on the dangerous run-in to Lecce.
But as Tratnik told Roglič, overall the team showed itself strongly through the Albanian stages and is ready to keep on defending the Slovenian as the first week unfolds.
“Primož is in the best scenario possible after Albania, and so is the team,” Tratnik told Cyclingnews before stage 4, which also then passed off incident-free for his squad.
“Nobody crashed, everything went perfectly, Primož has taken seconds on his rivals, but he doesn’t have the jersey. So like I said, it’s perfect.”
Tratnik himself was very pleased with how the team, too, responded to the hilly challenge in Albania, keeping Roglič close to the front on the late climb on stage 1, and once again in the long, tough ascent of Qafa e Llogarase prior to the finish in Vlore on stage 3.
“Once again, the team has responded really well, all the riders are committed to doing their job, and we are really well connected. Even if one guy has a bad guy, you know he will step in and do the job for two guys.
“So far, we were working really well together, and this is really important, because how you start is how you continue. So I’m very happy with how that’s going, too.
“We now have three easy days,” he said, referring purely to the terrain and not to the fraught atmosphere that regularly dominates any bunch sprint finale like stages 4 and 6, and narrow, technical, slightly uphill finishes like in Matera on stage 5.
“So on those days, the aim is just to arrive safely to the finish, and maybe even today it can be a bit stressful, even with the wind,” he added.
“So even if they say it’s easy, if you relax too much, then everything can go wrong. Then we’re onto the summit finish climb on stage 7, and we’ll need to see. For sure, it’s an objective, but I think the most difficult stage of this first part will be the Strade Bianche stage [stage 9 – Ed.]
“Once again, there, the aim will be to stay out of trouble and for all the GC guys to finish together. That’s the big goal – stay up there, stay out of trouble and then after the second rest day [in Tuscany] the Giro will start.”
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