Wout van Aert exceeded his own expectations by sprinting to second on stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia, after illness hampered his preparations, but was nonetheless still disappointed to be the perennial runner-up and miss out on the first jersey by a wheel.
"It doesn't feel like a victory, but of course it's a better result than I expected the last couple of days," Van Aert told reporters at the finish, asked if the context of his viral infection meant second felt like the win. "I have to be happy with it."
Van Aert has been close to leading Grand Tours on their opening day in the past, and looked set to right the yellow and red jersey near misses from Copenhagen at the 2022 Tour and Oeiras at last year's Vuelta, as he surged out of Mads Pedersen's (Lidl-Trek) wheel in Tirana. However, he was only able to come alongside and not overtake the Dane, seeing his pink dream disappear.
Having struggled on the final ascent of the climb to Surrel, where Pedersen's ruthless Lidl-trek squad put everyone to the sword, Van Aert had to give himself a mid-race pep talk to ensure he didn't give up the fight.
"I didn't feel really good, actually, I really had to fight and tell myself a lot of times that it was possible," he said.
"There's only one or a few opportunities to take this pink jersey, so that's why I really wanted to try it today. On the last climb, I suffered so much to just hang on, so it's a pity to finish in second place, but it's better than expected."
It looked as though Van Aert's race was run when he was spotted on the TV broadcast dropping 12.4km from the finish with little left of the climb to ride, after riding a great race up that final climb and looking every bit Pedersen's equal as the pure sprinters faded.
However, he had one yellow-and-black jersey for company, Wilco Kelderman, with the loyal Dutch teammate helping him survive the final few kilometres up the ascent and putting him back into position so that he could contest the finale.
"I was completely on the limit, that was no bluffing or whatever, I was crawling to the top," admitted Van Aert, who fought to catch his breath once he stopped to take a drink and recover on Tirana's Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit.
"My teammates were exceptional the whole day, we were always on top of it, and the last push of Wilco [Kelderman] was also really needed to show the others that I was still there.
"It was a mental game today, but I have to be happy with the second place," he reiterated.
While Van Aert's dream of the maglia rosa was denied by Pedersen on stage 1, it isn't completely gone at the 108th Giro, with Saturday's 13.7km individual time trial in Albania's capital offering him a second chance to take the leader's jersey.
This would mirror what he managed at the 2024 Vuelta, when he came third to Brandon McNulty on the opening day but took over the lead one day after, by, coincidentally, sprinting to second on stage 2. But also complete his set of leader's jerseys at Grand Tours, after wearing the famous maillot jaune at the 2022 Tour de France, by similarly sprinting to bonuses and another runner-up spot on the second stage.
"Of course I can [look forward to the ITT], but we try to recover as much as possible to get ready for this stage and plan to take it really day by day," said Van Aert.
"So yeah, I'll let this sink in, and of course, we try it again tomorrow."
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