Danny van Poppel has finished eighth in the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. The 24-year-old sprinter managed to position himself up front in a hectic final. However, Primoz Roglic lost precious time due to a bike change after a crash in the final.

The stage went well until the last lap. At about seven kilometres to go, there was a massive crash. Because of that, leader Roglic was delayed. “None of our team was involved in the crash, but Primoz had to swap his bike and was forced to chase”, sports director Addy Engels said. Eventually, Roglic lost precious time. “It was a bad day for us.”

Despite this, Danny van Poppel sprinted to the eighth place. “But the eighth place isn’t something to cheer about”, Engels put the result in perspective. “We came for a better result, but we can’t change it. Hopefully we will have more luck in the coming days.”