"These are dangerous days," is how veteran Ineos Grenadiers racer Ben Swift described the second week of the Giro d'Italia.

So far, Ineos Grenadiers has had many riders on every mountain stage of the Giro. In particular, at Brockhaus, after a big group effort, Richard Kalapas launched the biggest GC attack of the race with 5km to go.

However, the Giro enters a new phase from stage 10 to Saturday's hilly trek around Turin.

"These are dangerous days," Swift told Cycling News at the start of stage 10. 'Last week I thought this week was going to be easy, but then I looked a little closer and today we have 95 kilometers and almost 2,000 meters of climbing.' And this whole week is not easy at all. It's nice to be hot, but that makes it harder."

"But we're looking forward to continuing what we've been doing. The first 10 days were close to perfect for us and I could feel the desire to win this race.

"On a personal level, I'm happy with the way we're climbing, even though it's been a bit of a different year, doing the Classics and then the Giro. But it's going well."

Swift's words before stage 10 about the hidden risks of the second week proved more than accurate when Carapaz fell with about 80km to go. The Ecuadorian rider later told his team that he was not injured and was happy with his day and the work of his team, which allowed him to join the fight for fifth place. However, the grass stains on his jersey confirmed that he had squeaked in by the same narrow margin.

"The first half of the day was easy and the second half was pretty hard," Karapas said, quoting Swift's pre-stage comments. I went off the road and skidded a little bit, but nothing really happened."

"I was a little bit lucky,"

"I was able to get a good start.

"After that, the guys did a great job and got me back out there.

Kalapas didn't get the time bonus, "but in the end I'm happy with the teamwork, it was a great team effort.

Swift, road captain of the Ineos Grenadiers in the Giro d'Italia, laughed as he joked, "Until there are more hills." The Giro was his first Grand Tour in 2009, where he finished third and eighth as a sprinter for Katusha.

Two more years later, Swift, who will be taking his eighth Grand Tour, told Cycling News.

Commenting on the two Richards, Porte and Carapas' performances to date, Swift said, "For Richie Porte, this is the first Grand Tour he took part in back in 2010, and the last Grand Tour he will take part in. For Richie Porte, this is the first Grand Tour he participated in in 2010 and the last one he will participate in.

But getting that good vibe doesn't happen by accident, and Swift's job as team captain extends beyond his time on the bike. One of them is that he values the time he spends each night with his two Ecuadorian riders, Carapas and Jonathan Narvaez. As for Carapas as a jockey, Swift recognizes that he works for the real Huoric class: "His talent is above and beyond," he says.

It is very difficult to compare the Ineos Grenadiers of 2020 with the current Giro of 2022, Swift says.

"The situation was completely different, G [Geraint Thomas] crashed early on and our dynamism really changed. On top of that, it was COVID, it was the end of the year, we were only running six months, but there were two different Grand Tours (Vuelta and Giro) going on at the same time," Swift said.

"This time it's completely different. Obviously, this year's Giro is a quality field and there is no overlap whatsoever.

Against this backdrop, Ineos Grenadiers' strategy for the Giro was a more classic approach, using furious teamwork to squeeze out rivals, just as their leader, Carapas, did in Etna and at Brockhaus.

"But there was always a reason we were in the lead," Swift points out, "because we were the first to go. And so far, we're doing very well."