Giro d'Italia favorite Richard Kalapas (Ineos Grenadiers) insisted Sunday that the only thing that matters is the big picture after somewhat mixed but ultimately positive-looking results in the Giro's opening three stages.

The uphill finish on day one, much shorter than the second classics he won on Montevergine de Mercogliano in 2018 and much longer than the punchy climb on Frascati in 2019, earned Calapaz a notable sixth place finish.

Among GC rivals, only Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Pero Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorias) - who is undecided whether the Basque will fight for the overall - finished first. Thanks to this gap, the trio built a 4-second advantage over the rest of the field.

Saturday, however, did not go so well. Karapas finished 19th, 28 seconds behind winner Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco).

Sunday morning at a press conference before the third stage, Kalapas was upbeat, calling the time loss "quite a bit."

He did not mention, however, that he was 47 seconds behind Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) in the opening TT in Bologna in 2019.

"The time loss with Yates was big, but it was a very good result for us," Karapas told reporters. We have to keep this up day by day."

." The time difference was within the final planned range, and we [the overall winners] are all more or less on the same level."

Next Tuesday's Mt. Etna and, most importantly, today's blockhouse will give a more realistic picture of Kalapas' chances, but Budapest has four riders in the top 20, from Ben Tullett in 5th to Kalapas in 19th Ineos Grenadiers was notable for securing an all-around result.

This year's Ineos lineup does not have a time trial winner like Filippo Ganna, who has won previous Giro's, nor a sprinter like Elia Viviani.

"I'm totally focused on the GC this year, so we'll see what happens. Either way, we have some hard days ahead of us."

Sports director Matteo Tosatto, when asked by reporters how the three stages in Hungary went for the team, commented, "I think in general we can be very happy."

"The team was in good shape, no crashes, a small crash by Richie [Porte] and a great performance in the TT in Budapest. But the most important thing is that the riders are coming together well as a group."

"I think we have a good team, we have a good team, we have a good team, we have a good team, we have a good team.