“A lot of people dreamed of pink, and I did the best I could!”

Giro debutant Mauri Vansevenant looks back on his strong performance on the first mountain stage of the race.

“I think Tuesday’s stage will still be in my mind for a couple of days, as it was a really beautiful chance to take the maglia rosa. I can’t blame myself on anything though, as I did the best I could. I went into the breakaway as of course I saw chances that the group could hold it to the finish, as it did. We immediately got a big advantage on the bunch, so it really looked good. The cooperation in our group was fine and we knew that Etna would decide and show who was the strongest.”

“Hopefully I can recover well. I don’t really make a goal out of the GC or white jersey, as I know there are still a lot of hard days to come. I just take it day by day, now I take two days to recover from yesterday’s efforts and then we’ll see if I can maybe go into a breakaway again. I called my family last evening, and of course they said I did a really nice performance. I think not only me, but also others dreamed of taking that pink jersey at the end of the day, but it’s not that easy.”

Free role

“Wednesday’s stage is something for Cav, if I can help him I will for sure try to do. But in the sprint preparation mostly I don’t really interfere as it’s really hectic. There’s a climb in the middle of the stage, so there I can maybe also help to get Mark to the finish. On Sunday we won a stage, it’s always nice to take a victory early in the race for the morale and the atmosphere. Hopefully we can take home some other stages. I have a free role here, I don’t feel a lot of pressure from the team. I just do my thing and then we can see how far I get. My form is quite good, so I’ll try to show that. The legs will speak at the end, and that’s why I don’t look too far ahead, but I take it day by day instead.”

“In the first weekend of my Giro debut in Hungary my father and sister came to support me. Of course, it’s quite difficult to see them or make time for them, as we are in the flow of the race. Everything is so programmed that you don’t have a lot of time left. But it’s nice to know they were here and I also think they enjoyed it. My father doesn’t really say a lot, he just lets me do my thing. I miss home for sure, as I like to be at home. I call my family daily just to know how things are going and to keep in touch with them.”

Sharing the room with the one and only Pieter Serry

“It’s only my second Grand Tour and the Giro is a really hard one, so it’s a learning experience to get to know everything in a relaxed way. Also, I couldn’t do a specific preparation, as I had a really busy race schedule. But my form is there and I prepared the best I could for these three weeks. Now in between the stages it’s all about recovering well, that depends on the efforts you did the day before and if you normally recover fast.”

“But I love being here. My roomie is Pieter, who is doing his eighth Giro. During the races we do together, we share the room a lot. It’s always fun with him, he’s someone who makes a great atmosphere, makes you laugh a lot. He’s a really great guy so it’s nice to be with him in the room for the next couple of weeks.”

Photo credit: ©Wout Beel

                       ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images