Reaction from a disbelieving Bora-Hansgrohe camp, plus BMC
Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the maglia rosa after winning the opening stage at the 2017 Giro d'Italia (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
"We wanted to try for a sprint for the final for Sam. Through the city the lead-out trains, I don't know, they lost my wheel or something and I had a gap.
"I heard over the radio, 'C'mon, Posty go try!' and I put all I have in. It worked out, victory for the team, first professional victory for me - maglia rosa. I think I will need many weeks to realise this victory. It's unbelievable, really.”
"We were going for the sprint, but it was a really messy final. Posty saw himself on the front, and he way asking on the radio, 'What do I do?' I said 'keep going' because I didn't want guys to come over the top, we had a good position. In the last two kilometres he got a gap in a corner, kept going and then with one kilometre to go I shouted, 'just go for it – it's yours', because he had such a gap. And he just went, and nobody brought him back. It couldn't have happened to a nice guy. It's unbelievable."
"We didn't see it coming. The plan was to go with Cesare Benedetti into the break to get the chance for the climbers jersey. That was the plan, the second plan was to have Sam Bennett for the sprint. We had a clear order, we looked at the final and were really prepared. Lukas was to do the second lead-out man, and something happened in the last kilometer, I only heard Sam shouting in the radio 'go go go'. He succeeded in his first Giro. I think we are wearing all the jerseys. I have no voice anymore because I was shouting in the car.
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"It's a dream! The dream was to take one stage win here. That we did it in the first day, even better. Then we can ride free, and celebrate three weeks through Italy and enjoy it. We are super happy with these jerseys, it's top."
When asked about the strategy for stage 2: "I have to sleep on it. To find ourselves in this situation, it's completely new."
"I was a little bit stale at the start but that was expected. It was a little bit nervous at the start, there was a bit of a headwind for most of it. At 130k there was supposed to be crosswinds but there wasn't, though everyone stayed nervous from there. It was basically just a case of staying out of trouble. It's good to get it out of the way. The first stage is always a bit stressful."
"I didn’t even see the crash. The guys did a good job of keeping us safe. My teammate Silvan got tangled up in it, I hope he's OK. But we stayed safe. I had Joey and Quinziato, they were designated to keep me out of trouble and they did a fantastic job today. If it continues like this, it should be a fun three weeks."
