Despite losing 53 seconds to Cadel Evans on Thursday’s stage of the Giro d’Italia, OPQS DS Davide Bramati says that Rigoberto Uran is still in contention to win and that it is the time taken in the final week that really counts.

"50 seconds are a lot," Bramati admitted to Cyclingnews. "Evans has won a grand tour in the past and he's a dangerous man, but we knew that from the start. Still, there are a lot of climbs to come and the Giro isn't over because of these 50 seconds, although if he manages to stay with the best on the climbs then those 50 seconds will be important, especially as he just found them on the roadside."

Bramati was not against BMC riding on despite so many GC challengers hitting the deck, with GC challenges from Julian Arredondo, Joaquim Rodriguez and Nicholas Roche ending as a result.

"Unfortunately we were only 10 kilometres from the finish and in that moment, it was hard to take a decision. It went like that." He did note, however, that it was the QuickStep squad who were leading the peloton when the crash happened, rather than BMC or the GreenEdge team of pink jersey and eventual stage winner Michael Matthews.

"Honestly, we had four riders in front at that roundabout. We were the first ones through because we knew the finale, but when our four guys realised that Rigoberto had fallen off, we sat up and waited for our leader," he said.

"It's a pity because we had already lost three seconds on the first road stage because someone caused a gap in 20th place in the bunch. The next day we lost 11 seconds because someone caused a gap in 30th position. For me, that's not right, and I hope that the tweets I saw [claiming the gaps were caused on purpose – ed.] weren't true."

First Mountain

On Saturday the first real mountain day of the Giro commences, with climbs such as the Cippo di Carpegna and Montecopiolo. But Bramati says the race is not won here but in the races tough final week.

"I'm sorry about those 50 seconds – 53 when you add in the time bonus – but the Giro is long. I'm convinced that we'll see big things in the last week. I've done fifteen Giri d'Italia and when you do a Giro in this kind of weather, someone always suffers in the final week from the effects of all of the rain in the first half of the race," he said.

As for Uran’s chances on Saturday, Bramati had this to say:

"Tomorrow is a good test and we'll see the men who'll be up there in the final week. the final 5 kilometres will favour the pure climbers. Let's hope Rigoberto's up there," Bramati said.

"But the important thing on Saturday will be to stay with Evans. He'll definitely take the jersey provided he doesn't have a day of crisis, and then BMC will have to start controlling the race."