Jonas Vingegaard admitted that there was nothing he or anyone else could have done when Tadei Pogachar attacked Monte Carpeña on Saturday's Tirreno-Adriatico stage 1.

The Jumbo Visma leader finished in second place, 1:03 behind Pogachar. The Dane was part of the lead group on GC when Pogachar jumped out 16 km from the finish, but neither he nor his rivals could do anything about the Slovenian's attack.

"I think we can be pretty happy with this result," Vingegaard said shortly after the finish. Taddei's attack was really amazing. He shaved a minute off on the climb. Taddei took a minute off on the climb, and I'm very happy with that.

"I didn't even try to follow him because I was at my limit. He was really awesome today.

"I think I finished 2nd in GC. I still have one more day of racing left, but I'm really happy. The only thing I can say I did wrong this week was the time trial. Other than that I'm happy."

Vingegaard was pleased with his performance. However, he did not feel the same way about the conditions on the downhill after the climb.

The riders ran the climb and the descent twice each. Long sections were paved with asphalt, but there were many hairpins and the important lines on the descent were graveled due to exposure to the Italian winter.

Movistar's Enric Mas was denied any hope of a podium finish when his front wheel slipped and he crashed heavily at the first corner of the second descent down the snow-covered mountain. The Spaniard eventually crossed the finish line more than five minutes behind, suffering some road rash and cuts but escaping serious injury.

Pogachar said after the stage that he was unhappy with Bahrain Victorious' attack on the first descent, preferring to clear the climb alone to set his pace and line on the final descent.

However, Vingegaard was more vocal and took the position of protecting the safety of the riders.

"I have one thing to say about this stage," he said. The gravel on the downhill was terrible. I don't think that was good enough and I have to say it (to the organizers). I think they should do better."

"I think they cleaned the roads from the snow, but there was still a lot of gravel on the roads. You also saw that Enric Mas crashed in the first corner of the downhill. There was a lot of gravel and it was very dangerous. I really don't think it was enough."