During the second rest day at the Giro d'Italia, Giant-Alpecin captains Nikias Arndt and Tom Dumoulin and coach Marc Reef spoke about the first week of the race. Below you can read what they had to say.

NIKIAS ARNDT (GER)

“Until now the Giro d’Italia was a really nice race. We have all enjoyed it with Tom having the leader’s jersey. Of course, it were seven tough stages. We had to do a lot of work, but in the end for all of us it was great to gain this experience.

“It is a shame that we lost the pink jersey, but that will keep us motivated for the upcoming days. It also opens up some new opportunities for us in the sprints. I had less support than usual in the sprints so far because the guys had to use a lot of energy during the race.

“For the upcoming days, we will try and make our lead-outs a little bit stronger, and that is something that I am personally really looking forward to. I also think that there will be some opportunities for us to join the breakaways.”

TOM DUMOULIN (NED)

“Saturday’s stage was a disappointment because I didn’t expect to lose the pink jersey that quickly. I thought I would lose it in the high mountains because I knew my level was not high enough to go eventually for the general classification so I knew I was going to lose it somewhere. It was earlier than expected but still it was OK, but yesterday was actually the main goal of this Giro and the bigger disappointment.

“It was a time trial that suited me very well. It would have been one of the most beautiful time trials I had ever done if it had been sunny but I knew before the start I had no chance to win it.

“Yesterday’s stage was actually the main goal of this Giro d’Italia. It was a time trial that suited me really well, but I knew before the start that I had no chance to win it because of the wet conditions. During the race, I realised there was a possibility to regain the pink jersey, but then I would have needed to take a lot of risks in the slippery corners.

“When I have my best time trials, I have no thoughts. I just go and I don’t think about it. But before and during the time trial, I had thoughts like ‘Ooh, should I take this corner? Let’s brake a little more to be safe.’ If you have those thoughts, you’re never going to win. Winning was never possible anyway, but I wasn’t going to be able to take the pink jersey either. Thinking is bad in a TT.

“My saddle sore is really becoming a problem, so I was happy with the rest day today. Actually, it started the day after I attacked in the mountains. It was a little bit annoying before, but it was not causing any real trouble. However, the past days it has been inflamed and it is taking a lot of energy.

“I went for a bike ride this morning, because I was worried that if I did nothing, I would have a bad feeling at the beginning of tomorrow’s stage. I will take the start and we will see how it goes.

“I think I don’t have another choice tomorrow because my saddle sore is really a problem. I will take the start but I think I will lose time anyway because I’m not feeling well and maybe it’s better to take that time tomorrow instead of going for a few days and finding I’m still too close on GC to get in a breakaway. It’s better to lose it tomorrow than try to hang on as long as possible and fuck up my saddle sore even more.

“If you see my performance on the day I attacked, I think my shape was quite good, way better than I expected it to be in the mountains and it’s strange that two days after that you’re 20 per cent worse than before. Normally that doesn’t happen.

“The explanation could be that an inflamed saddle sore is not really helpful for your shape. But I don’t want to put everything on the saddle sore, either. I don’t know exactly: it was just a bad day.

“The Tour is too much with the whole Giro, so I’ll probably do two shorter altitude camps, one before Poland and one afterwards. How we see it now, I’m not going to go to the Tour.

“The Worlds TT is going to be completely flat, but I’ve also won flat TTs so I would be crazy not to go for it.”

MARC REEF (NED)

“The first week of racing has been very successful for the team. We took a stage victory and we managed to stay in the pink jersey during six days, and we defended it for as long as possible. In addition, we had a second place on stage four and a fourth place on stage six, which was very good and we have operated very well as a team.

“Unfortunately Tom’s saddle soreness has worsened and we have started treatment on it. We have to wait and see, and hope that the situation develops in a positive way.

“For the upcoming week, we will aim for the sprints with Nikias. There are two opportunities this Wednesday and Thursday for the race to end up in a bunch sprint. Next to that, when the mountain stages start we will go for the breakaways and take our opportunities when they come.”