Robert Gesink and Primoz Roglic defended their position in the Tirreno-Adriatico successfully today in Montalto di Castro. The GC riders of Team LottoNL-Jumbo kept with the favourites in the chaotic stage final, won by Peter Sagan.

"It was a hectic day. In the final I was with Jos van Emden in a good position," Gesink said.

"Fortunately we stayed out of trouble during the crash in the final, now on to tomorrow"

Tomorrow's stage finishes with a 16.1-kilometre climb up Monte Terminillo.

"We will see what is possible. We have been very alert so far and tomorrow, it is again the task to start the final climb as fresh as possible. On the climb, we have to give everything as usual."

Everyone OK for tomorrow

"The pace was high whole day today,” Sports Director Jan Boven explained. “I think the peloton raced an average of 60 kilometres an hour in the final."

Just before the final, a number of teams tried to force it. Team LottoNL-Jumbo was attentive from the front.

"We anticipated that other teams were going to try something and we kept Gesink and Roglic well in the front. The crash in the last kilometre, fortunately, didn’t cause any problems for the overall classification.

"Tomorrow, we will see how far Gesink and Roglic can go. They are in good shape and so I'm wondering what they can do.”