Romain Bardet (DSM) sat on the side of the road just beyond the finish line at Brockhaus, shaking his head occasionally and staring into the middle distance. His performance in the first real mountain test of the Giro d'Italia suggested that he was the perfect candidate to win this race. The Frenchman was not one step behind fellow powerhouses Richard Calapaz (Ineos) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) on the tough final climb. In the final meters, Bardet caught up to Kalapas, but fell behind as his former teammate Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) accelerated smartly at the apex of the final curve. Bardet scrambled to respond, but had to settle for second place.

"I made a mistake on the last corner and came up a few centimeters short in the end.

"I knew I was the fastest in the sprint, so I didn't push too hard in the mountains. I just wanted to stay behind the steering wheel of Carapaz, and Hindley led me by three lengths in the corners, so I didn't think it would be that short from there to the finish."

In the chaos immediately following the stage, Bardet's DSM entourage briefly wondered if he would inherit the maglia rosa from Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo), who was still up the last part of the blockhouse. In the end, Bardet finished third overall, 14 seconds behind Lopez and 2 seconds behind Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates).

"I didn't know anything about the pink jersey, but anyway I should stay behind for the time being," Bardet said.

As the Giro entered its second rest day, Bardet was one second ahead of pre-race favorite Carapas. Another rider, Simon Yates (Bike Exchange-Jayco), dropped out of contention after losing 11 minutes. Ineos set a brisk tempo on the tough twin climbs of Passo Lanciano and Brockhaus.

When Calapaz made the inevitable attack with 4.6 km to go, Bardet was the first to react and was soon joined by Landa. The trio looked more level than anyone else in the blockhouse, but the stop-start nature of their cooperation allowed Hindley, Almeida, and Domenico Pozzovivo (Intermarse Wanty-Gobert) to battle it out inside the final 2km.

"It was a difficult stage, and I had a mechanical problem [before the Lanciano pass] that drained me a lot," Bardet said. "On the last climb, I knew Ineos was going to do something, so I should have gone with Carapaz when he attacked. But after that, it didn't work. It was a shame to finish in a group fighting for the win.

Bardet knows how difficult it is to withstand the Ineos train, having put up a stubborn resistance to get on the podium in the 2016 and 2017 Tour de France. In doing so, Chris Froome proved to be an unyielding foe, but Bardet must be encouraged by the fact that he went toe-to-toe with Calapaz here. Brockhaus felt he missed his chance, but this Giro may open up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"We didn't work very well. I got the impression that everyone was hiding something," Bardet said.