Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r) was the big loser in the second stage of the Giro d'Italia as he was involved in a crash that ended up costing him 1.09.

"There was a crash in the front of the group," he told Tuttobiciweb. "I was almost able to avoid it and then I was forced to stop. I tried to continue immediately, but I had problems with the chain and I lost a bit of time as I had to fix it. Then, with my teammates, we tried to limit the damage, because it was impossible to get back, given the speed in the peloton.

"Unfortunately, in the first four or five stages of the grand tours, something like that always happens. Fortunately I have no major physical injuries except for a cut on my leg, and that's what counts.

"The tactic? Now something can change, I have to take every opportunity, trying to regain the lost terrain already before Campitello Matese, perhaps using the fact that I am a little behind."

"We had a similar scenario to each opening stage of a grand tour," manager Vincent Lavenu said. "In the end, there was a lot of tension and desire to do well in this city circuit. The team members work to position sprinters and leaders, inevitably there will be crashes. There were two big falls 25 kilometers from the finish where we were not involved. In the second one 13 km from the finish, Pozzovivo hit the deck. There was a small cut but nothing serious. As a consequence, he lost one minute and nine seconds. It is never ideal. A Grand Tour is long. At one point, other riders will have the same problem. There's no reason to lose morale. Our leader is Pozzovivo, the podium is in sight and we will work for that."