Daniel Felipe Martínez is Bora Hansgrohe’s strong card for the 2024 Giro d’Italia. So far, he has been able to respond, staying with the majority of the title favorites. This was how he demonstrated it in stage 1, where he was the best of the Colombians, crossing the finish line in position number 13, 10 seconds behind the leader and winner, Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers).
The Ecuadorian surprised and defeated Tadej Pogacar and Maximilian Schachmann, in an exciting match. In this regard, ‘Dani’ spoke in an exclusive interview with Ricardo Orrego, special envoy of Caracol Sports and head of sports. In his statements, the ‘beetle’ explained what the UAE Team Emirates failed to do and that he did not allow ‘Pogi’, the strong candidate to be champion, to win.
“It was a pretty hard, short and explosive stage. In the end, what happened happened; Tadej Pogacar was expected to attack and I think his team made the mistake of leaving him alone, and we took advantage of that“We played our chips well and came second to Maximilian Schachmann,” the Soacha native stated at the outset. But that was not all and he analyzed the course of the second fraction.
/AFP
“If I have the legs, surely, I will try to win the stage. The main objective is to be there to compete in the general classification, so we are going little by little. The route of stage 2 is quite demanding, very hard and long. For sure, UAE Team Emirates will control things and do it quickly and Tadej Pogacar is expected to attack, but we will be attentive,” added the Colombian.
Finally, he referred to an epic moment in cycling that featured Marco Pantani and an ascent to the Santuario di Oropa. Precisely, this Sunday, May 5, they will end that promotion. “It’s an epic video there, When Marco Pantani suffers a puncture before the climb and overtakes everyone, 49 riders, it is incredible. You don’t see that anymore nowadays (laughs),” he said.
