As a mass crash shook up the Giro d'Italia on stage 2, one of the teams to come out with a net positive was Netcompany Ineos, with their GC leaders Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman managing to nab six and four bonus seconds at the Red Bull Kilometre, bumping them up to third and fourth overall.
The incident that changed the whole complexion of the race happened with 23km to go on a wet descent, with five UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders coming down and a whole host of other riders going with them, but the British team avoided the crash entirely.
Speaking at a contrastingly upbeat team bus – compared to many of their rivals – Director of Racing Geraint Thomas said this was simply a matter of luck, with their eight riders all taking spots on the inside of the right-hand band, while the crash occurred on the left as one UAE rider slid out near the front and sent a ripple through the peloton.
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"It just looked like a super slippery part of the road. From the TV, you could see the UAE guy in second place just slid out and then it's just a huge pile up," said Thomas outside the team bus to Cyclingnews and Feltet.
"Everyone's drag racing, with the crunch corner coming up, and then it's just a big wipeout. You can see everyone going when they touch the brakes; it's really not nice to see.
"But, from a selfish point of view, it's really lucky that we were all on the right, because we could have easily been on the left, and it would have been us. I just hope everyone's alright; it looked like there were a lot who were quite hurt."
Thomas knows all too well how a Grand Tour campaign can go up in smoke in one of the early stages, having crashed in the neutral zone of stage 3 at the 2020 race due to a bidon on the road and abandoned one day later.
At least three riders have abandoned the race already after the incident, but Thomas hated to see a former teammate and compatriot endure a similar fate to his six years prior as UAE's Adam Yates hit the ground hard and emerged with a mud-covered face and a bloodied ear. He finished 13:46 down on the lead group with his GC bid over.
"It's never nice, especially when you know him. His GC is done now, it's just so unfortunate, but at the same time, you know, as Steve Peters [renowned sports psychiatrist famed for working with several British cycling stars] would say, 'life's not fair'," said Thomas.
"It is what it is, get on with it. It's harsh, and you put a lot of work in, [but] I've been in that position before in 2020, and it was all done and dusted."
Not long after the race was neutralised, things restarted with the Red Bull Kilometre time bonuses, final climb, and run to the finish all still to play for, and Thomas, who watched things unfold from the team bus, was delighted to see how alert his riders were.
They switched straight into gear with numbers in front and were able to take the top two positions at the bonus sprint, gaining six seconds for Bernal and four for Arensman. While both were dropped by the attack from Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and neither featured in the reduced sprint for the win when the move led by him was brought back, this moved them up 113 and 25 spots in the GC, respectively, at the finish.
"No one was too clear what was happening, but I think the boys did really well just to stay switched on and stay in position, and then, when it did start, they were in a good place and ready to go," said the Welshman, who had no qualms about the restart.
"Someone asked me earlier, 'Should they have just neutralised it?' But I think if it's safe to continue to race, ambulance-wise and like the roads are not completely slippery everywhere, then you continue. It was race on. Then you either race or you don't, and if you're racing, you go for it.
"[The Red Bull KM] wasn't planned, but we were watching it, and I was like, 'Come on, just come up sneak on the right and just pip it, you know, least effort possible'. Then the two boys got it, so that was good to see."
Former Giro and Tour de France winner Bernal now sits third overall heading into the final stage in Bulgaria, showing signs of his previous best form, and with more performance still to gain, according to Thomas.
"He's a fighter, you know. He certainly didn't have the best run-in, and we were thinking 'How is he going to be'," said Thomas.
"But he's just a warrior, and he lives for the big, big races. We saw him in the Tour of the Alps and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and we knew he was back in good form. I think he's still got more to come."
Thinking back to that harsh reality that good luck at a Grand Tour can all come crashing down in an instant, Thomas didn't want to get ahead of himself after a successful day for Ineos, with that high risk arriving again in just a day's time with another expected sprint finish.
"Today we were… I wouldn't say lucky, but we weren't unlucky. And you never know, in Grand Tours, tomorrow something crazy could happen as well," he told Cyclingnews. "So I think let's just not get ahead of ourselves, it's still 19 days to go, but today was a good day."
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