Lund Andresen rues crash-hit Giro sprint: 'There were elbows being given, so it was inevitable'

The opening stage was always expected to come down to a bunch sprint, but a major crash with around 650 metres to go took much of the peloton out of contention. Decathlon CMA CGM had been leading under the flamme rouge, only for the final kilometre to descend into disorder.

“My team did exactly what I wanted them to do,” Lund Andresen said afterwards to CyclingPro.net. “As I expected, it was completely crazy. I lost the wheel, but we all stuck to the plan.”

The Dane has already won three races this season, including at the Tour Down Under and Tirreno-Adriatico. He explained that his only chance against the fastest sprinters was to launch early rather than wait for a pure drag race to the line.

“I said I wanted to go early in the sprint,” he said. “I needed to beat these guys because they are faster than me. I had to come from behind. If I had been on anyone else’s wheel, I would have won. So I’m really disappointed.”

Lund Andresen finished behind Magnier, who avoided the late crash and powered to his first Grand Tour stage victory, also taking the opening pink jersey thanks to the bonus seconds at the finish. Ethan Vernon completed the podium.

Asked whether he saw what happened in the crash, Lund Andresen said it unfolded just beside him.

“It was on my right side,” he said. “What happens is that everyone is crazy. Just as I expected. I think there were elbows being given, so it was inevitable.”

Magnier now leads the Giro d’Italia by four seconds over Lund Andresen heading into Saturday’s second stage in Bulgaria, a 221.1km route to Veliko Tarnovo featuring a category three climb in the closing stages, raising questions over whether riders such as Magnier and Lund Andresen will be able to contest the victory.